


The Reader and The Reaper

by hostilewitness



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Alcohol, Alternate Universe - Fairy Tale, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Attempted Forced Marriage, Awkward Sexual Situations, Blood, Canon-Typical Violence, Character Death, Creepy McCree, F/M, Female Reader, Fluff and Angst, Mostly plot with some porn, Mutual Pining, Porn With Plot, Porn with Feelings, Slow Burn, Teasing, Vaginal Fingering, Vaginal Sex, monster!reaper
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-02
Updated: 2020-06-17
Packaged: 2021-02-27 05:40:44
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 24
Words: 129,331
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22441957
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hostilewitness/pseuds/hostilewitness
Summary: You're convinced Overland is cursed and it started with the fall of King Reyes. As you're collecting folktales, you travel to this strange town to gather the tales of villagers who survived a gruesome battle, but you quickly find that it is hard to leave once you know too much and you're trapped behind castle walls. [AU]
Relationships: Jesse McCree/Reader (in the beginning), Reaper | Gabriel Reyes/Reader
Comments: 650
Kudos: 515





	1. Little Town, Quiet Village

You were in search of a story. Tales of a changing world, you sought out to write about the experiences of everyone- fantastical ones with princes and knights, of sharpshooters who fought away monsters from the deepest delves, traveling across the globe to gather the tales of everyday people with unusual experiences. Your search for their stories, for the books that wrote of adventures you would never yourself go on, took you all over until it eventually landed you in Overland. 

Before you arrived at the village on a dreary rotting ship, you’d heard of the battle surrounding the country. Long prior to you ever setting foot on the dock, you know it was a land once divided between two powerful kings. For years they ruled peacefully alongside each other, the people of Overland blinded by trust and loyalty believing the kings could forever work together in harmony, but the endless forests were haunted by unseen forces threatening far worse things than bickering about governing rules. 

There was a man you met on your journey to Overland, Genji Shimada was your cabinmate in the cramped quarters in one of the darkest corners of the ship. He was generally reserved, his face horrifically scarred beneath the wrap he tied around his head, but he was kind to you and helped you through the first few days of seasickness. As the land drew closer he would twist and turn in his bunk restless about returning to a place he'd fled. When neither could sleep, he would tell you about his worries returning to a land he'd fought in and one night he even opened up to you about the war that tore the people apart. 

“Deep in the mountains a scientist was driven mad by his desire to take down the kingdom.” He whispered to you in the lamplight. He spoke of whispers through the pines threatening soulless omnics being built at the rate of producing an army, so quickly that they would overthrow the land with no contest. The two kings fought endlessly with each other on how to stop the inevitable slaughter of their people. You quietly wrote in your journal, listening to him describing the fall of the kingdom through a shaking voice. "King Morrison wanted to outwit the mad scientist, but my king, King Reyes, was intent on taking the battle to the mountains. They fought about it for so long, too focused on each other. They could not protect their people when the omnics finally came to slaughter the villages."

You wondered if his partially omnic body was a result of the fighting. He hid it well, but in that cramped ship cabin where heat would get trapped and sweat you out, you saw most of his body was plated in silver metal. He must have felt you staring, he sighed and stared down at your journal before speaking again. 

"We thought their attacks would be the worst of it, but then the dust settled and we realized King Reyes had turned on us... once King Morrison knew it was too late. Their fight at Reyes's castle was awful. Truly awful." 

"I can only imagine the horrors you saw during that time, Genji." As a collector of stories, you wanted the terrible details, but the look on his face told you he wasn't willing to share that much with you yet. "If I was in your shoes I would never want to return to Overland." 

"I recently reconnected with my brother." Something changed when he mentioned his brother, his eyes dropped with a deep sadness and stared down at his hands resting in his lap. One human and one omnic, he curled his metal hand into a loose fist and lifted his face with a small fake smile. "As much as I would enjoy continuing seeing the world, it is time I return to my family. Anyway, I understand you are staying in the village as well. Will you be doing much other than research while you're there?"

"You'll probably find me with my nose in a book more often than not." You tried to laugh. "I'm hoping to find local folktales to collect and share with the world. Stories like yours." 

"There are plenty of us who survived and are willing to speak of the war." In the dim ship lamplight, you could see him almost rolling his eyes. "Very few are worth listening to."

"Sounds like a warning." You pushed yourself to sit at the edge of your cot and swung your legs over the side. The ship's movements had your feet swaying in the air with the rocking of the waves and you waited with a curious look on your face. 

"I fought at the side of many soldiers.” He looked into your eyes with a long unenthused stare before sucking at his teeth and turning to face away from you with his thin tweed blanket pulled over his shoulders. “No matter how charming he is, keep your distance from Jesse McCree. Ever since he saved the village during the battle he has been prideful, he is only trouble now.” 

"Stay away from Jesse McCree. Got it." You jotted exactly that down in your journal, making sure to circle it as a reminder. Genji warned you against him, but that made you all the more curious. "Thanks for the advice." 

"After you have settled in, call on me and my brother. We will reside in the brick estate on the south end of the pier, I am sure he would enjoy recalling his own travels if you wish to hear them." 

"I'll do that." You smiled as you reached for the lamp and killed the gas leaving the cabin in pitch black. 

Sleep overcame you as waves crashed against the wood siding. With the trip to Overland taking days by boat, you were on the verge of becoming stir crazy by the time you finally laid eyes on the distant dock. 

Hearing of a bloody battle did nothing to prepare you for seeing the village in person. Even from out at sea, you could see the damage of a community struggling. It had been years already since the fighting ended and yet everything was still in disrepair. Worried eyes watched the buildings the day you landed on that foggy afternoon, clouds hung low between roofs but you could still see the crumbling walls with boarded-up windows of the shops along the pier. Your legs were shaky as you set foot on solid ground and parted from your newly friended shipmate off into the heart of the village.

People on the street kept to themselves with sunken in eyes and distant stares but there was a buzzing between shops that had the town coming to life. The docks reeked of freshly caught fish, the mist in the air left a cold bite on your skin as you carried your bag through the small dirt streets of the village. With nothing more than a vague idea of where you were headed, you’d secured a temporary home just off the town square tucked away from the busy streets.

It was clear as you stood out in front of your new temporary home why the owner had been so willing to hand off the key for so little.

It wasn’t _horrible_ , but it was on the second story above what must have formerly been a blacksmith and was now sporting broken windows and scorch marks from an uncontrolled fire from who knows how long ago. On the street you could hear arguing, muffled and unclear somewhere in one of the other homes while through another open window someone was practicing their (awful) lute skills, but you chewed at the corner of your lip keeping to yourself as you made your way to rickety stairs that had been beaten by sea winds long enough for you to have to avoid loose nails and splintering wood.

It was dusty inside as you opened the door, the dirt in the air kicked around making you cough and cover your mouth trying not to breathe it in. It just needed a bit of cleanup, but it could be made into something great. Small, but cozy, it was perfect for your temporary stay in Overland. Just one big room separated by moth-ridden curtains hanging from the ceiling, the only other door in the room led to a bathroom with a clawfoot tub centered beneath a window overlooking the dark forest behind the building.

At the very least, it was furnished well enough for you to be comfortable, but it would take a bit of breaking in before you would feel completely at home there. After the small housekeeping things, wiping the dust clean, folding your clothes into squeaking drawers, shelving your books of spoken stories, you knew you'd need to find the market before the day ended.

* * *

Storm clouds were rolling over the village by the time you settled in enough to head to the market. Even with the looming rain, the main square was bustling and vendors still tending to booths. Unable to carry much more than a basket's worth of food and small supplies, you were limited on what you could peruse through, but that didn't stop you from looking through a gorgeous assortment of flowers and bouquets set up at the corner of the market. Collections of tulips and blossoms, chrysanthemums and dahlias, dozens upon dozens of sunflowers- you'd never seen such a wide array of flowers in one place nor did you ever expect such a thing from a small village. You were caught up in touching soft pink petals of a peony, lost in thought when you heard a voice purring out behind you. 

"Well now, aren't you just the prettiest sight among these flowers." His voice was gruff and twisted around a cigar bit between his teeth, when you turned you were face to face with a man leaned forward as he darted eyes from your lips to the full basket in your arms. 

"Oh-" You nervously laughed and turned to face back towards the flowers, embarrassed that his boldness caused you to blush instantly. "That's- um, I mean- thank you." 

"Can't say I've seen you around before, you new?" He leaned against the wood frame of the booth and held his cigar between two gloved fingers as he smiled from the corner of his mouth. There was something about the way he was staring down at you with heavy lids and long lashes that brought heat to your chest and made your heart thump against your skin.

"Just landed today." You gestured blindly towards the docks and caught the ends of your hair between your fingers, your eyes flickered down to the basket then back to his smile. 

"I can tell, looks like you've got quite a handful." Before you could even protest, he'd slipped his arm beneath your basket handle and gathered it in his own arms. You reeled with surprise as he turned toward the shopkeep and placed a gentle hand on your shoulder. "I'd like to buy that bouquet there hangin' from the ceiling, for the lady." 

"Wait, there's no need to do-" You began to protest but his hand slid from your shoulder to your back and drew you closer to him. The nearer you were the stronger you could smell his musk, a mix of cigar smoke and confidence that had an unsuspecting effect on you.

"Please, it's my pleasure. Think of it as a welcome gift to my town, I wouldn't want you to feel unwelcome." In one arm he held your basket, in the other a bouquet of red carnations wrapped in winding twigs and yellow gladiolus. "Now then, is there anythin' else you think you may need? Looks like rain soon." 

"I'm sure that's plenty for now, thank you-" You couldn't help looking down at his arms as they were revealed from beneath his torn red cloak. His appearance was slightly disheveled, but his sleeves were rolled to his elbows showing off strong muscles on one arm and a metal arm on the other. When you weren't busy ogling at him, you knew you needed to mentally remind yourself to ask him if he had a story he was willing to share. "I'm so sorry, I didn't even ask you your name!" 

"How about you tell me where you're headin' with all this, then I tell you my name?" Everything he said sounded so flirtatious- but you were sure you were just imagining it, he was just being a gentleman. 

"I'm a couple of streets that way, just above the old blacksmith." You sheepishly replied with a hand motioning over your shoulder. 

"That old burnt up place near the Deadlock Tavern?" He threw his head back in a small chuckle. "Perfect, I was just headin' in that direction anyways." 

He started rambling on about the tavern near your temporary home, he went on and on about how he spent most evenings there and about all the people who would sit and listen to him every night. You chewed at the corner of your lip and adjusted your shawl nervously as you began to walk through the dusty streets with him. There was electricity in the air, not just the fear of an unknown blooming romance, but something traveling through the skies that was sinister and threatening far more than rain.

Your eyes turned to the storm clouds above and hands tucked snugly in crossed arms against your chest, villagers in passing windows turned their heads staring as you walked with the stranger drawing your attention to the reflection of him in the windows showing off a gun holstered at his hip. Somehow, he'd talked himself into a topic of his own sharpshooting while you were busy wondering about weather patterns and what the sky was like the day the war broke out.

"Sorry-" You interrupted him, stopping with fingertips pressing to his chest as you snaped out of your thoughts. "I still don't think I caught your name." 

"Well, Jesse McCree of course. Village savior? Protected hundreds from sure death? I'm sure you must have heard of me." He was smiling, cocky and expecting you to become weak in the knees at the reveal of his name. Instead, you froze with eyes snapping open wide and the lamplit warning to stay away from him pounding in your ears. 

"No, sorry, I'm unfamiliar." You spoke softly, your will was too weak to listen to the man from the ship. Jesse McCree seemed so nice, so _genuine_. He was helping you carry your groceries home, he bought a bouquet for goodness sake. Surely someone like that couldn't be 'trouble'. "But... I'm specifically in town to get stories from the locals, I'd be very grateful if you'd be willing to share." 

“Oh, I’ve got loads of stories I could tell.” He was smirking as he eyed you. The way he looked at you made you feel like he had you undressed, it was almost like you could feel his gaze on your skin and it lit you with a desire that shook you to your core. “What do you say we catch a drink together sometime? Like I said, I'm at the tavern almost every night and I'm sure I could find somewhere nice and quiet for us to... talk." 

Maybe he would be trouble, but that was the kind of trouble you were willing to get yourself in. He wasn't harmless, you could tell that much just by looking at him, but he was just the right amount of dangerous to get your blood pumping. You were right at the point of picturing what he would be like using his strong arms to pin you against your walls or wrapping his metal hand at your waist when you realized you were standing at the steps of your home and he was staring up at your door. Hoping he wasn't seeing your cheeks blazing with dirty thoughts, you rushed up the stairs and held your door open as he sauntered in to place your basket and bouquet on a small table pushed to the corner of the room.

"You let me know if anyone starts gettin' on your nerves. Wouldn't want our new guest in town to be bothered." His lips curled as he lifted your chin with his fingers, forcing you to meet his eyes. "Come find me when you're ready. I look forward to meetin' you again."

With one last look around your room, he brought his cigar back to his lips. Heavy boots hit the floor with metal studs, he waited until he was at your door to light up and blow out a long breath of smoke. You thought you were completely in the clear of him but just for good measure he made a point of closing your door on his way out with wink that made your heart flutter.

You waited with a hand over your mouth listening to his steps heading down your stairs before you finally let out an exasperated and yet way too excited gasp completely shocked that anyone like him would ever take time out of their day to help you. He didn't even know you and yet he made you feel so _special_. 

Wanting to keep the flowers as pristine as possible, you took your time cleaning out a tall decorative vase tucked away in the corner of your old cabinets. It was cracked with paint chipping, but the bouquet fit perfectly and added a much needed brightness to your dreary room. You were rearranging the kitchen around your new bouquet just as rain began tapping on the window, small drops that obscured the outside world but brought out the deep fragrance of earth and wood. What was left of the sun disappeared behind dark skies and you tucked yourself in a mess of heavy blankets content to read over your many journals for the evening.

* * *

Your eyelids were heavy, swollen it almost felt like as you struggled to flutter them open after falling asleep with your fingers pressed between pages you thought you were in the middle of reading. When you tried to push yourself to your feet there was a weight, the force of the ocean itself pressing your body back down, but you grabbed at the curtains and pulled yourself up only to find the windows dark and wind whipping at the glass. The rain was heavy, hard drops crashing with a force that had your heart jumping with a fear that a single drop would shatter the old glass, but everything felt hazy like you were moving through a cloud. A feeling in your gut forced you to stare down to the barely lit street below, the darkness you saw was something far more than night, it was chilling and creeping between the houses like giant claws. 

Looking down at the black clouds made you dizzy, it filled your entire body with an anxiousness you couldn't shake. If you closed your eyes and focused hard enough you could almost hear something, a flurry of voices all talking over each other, whispers of finding someone, of arguments that bounced off your brain until it was all too loud. 

You remember hitting the cold floor, the feeling of wood planks scratching at your skin, and then... sunshine. 

Morning. 

The rain was gone and you were in bed with your hand still holding your journal open to the page you'd fallen asleep reading. You woke with a start, a gasp that pained your chest and scrapes on the side of your arm where you'd fallen to the floor. People were walking along the streets as if there hadn't been something sinister and swallowing the village in deathly black, the ground wasn't even wet from the heavy storm. You broke out in a cold sweat as you fell back against the bed.

It had to have been a dream, a nightmare from an active imagination and an adjustment back to life on land. You'd fully convinced yourself you'd imagined the entire night, including even running into Jesse McCree, but then you turned to look at his flowers. 

Once brilliant with life they now sagged in the vase lifeless.

Not just lifeless, _dead_. Rotting. Wilted and black as if they'd been sitting out for months. 

Unable to rip your eyes away, you stared and gripped into your sheets as a sinking feeling settled in your stomach. Whatever happened to Overland was far more than just a war between two kings, there was something darker that lurked in the thicket that piqued your curiosity. It forced you to your feet and had you tossing your journal to the side, stories you'd been told by people who fled Overland never once mentioned anything that would insinuate the village was cursed and yet after King Reyes was taken down it seemed no one wanted to talk about what was going on with the village. With a shaking hand you reached for dried petals, they crumbled like ash between your fingertips into a fine smoke that lifted into the air.

"Huh." You turned to look out the window once more, with no trace of what you'd seen you wondered if the darkness that came at night was something everyone knew about but never spoke of.

In a hurry to find out for yourself, you dressed and ran out the door while still bringing your shawl around your shoulders. You could hear the market busy with people from blocks away but you were focused only on finding out if the flower shop met the same fate as your own bouquet. As you neared, the drifting smell of florals slowed your feet until you were standing at the front of a lushly stocked booth still as bright and colorful as it had been the day before. Your mouth opened in an unsure gasp wanting to question the shopkeep if he'd noticed anything but also cautious of saying anything that would make you an immediate social outcast. 

"Already back for another bouquet?" The man asked as he noticed you over his shoulder. 

"No just-" You tried to play it off, to pretend like you didn't have a decaying vase of flowers. "Crazy weather we had last night, right?" 

"You must not be from around here." He turned back to his work, his expression twisted into something almost annoyed. "It was just a storm."

Just a storm. You knew from the stirring in your chest that what you saw was in no way _just a storm_.

Thunderstorms don't shroud villages in pitch black, rain doesn't yell over each other or fill you with dread. The town continued outside of your own metal crisis, you were left standing in front of that booth staring around at people who were seemingly unbothered by the evening rain. Hoping to ease your mind, for the rest of the day you wandered the village getting to know every ornately decorated street corner and shop front with meticulous notes. You sat outside of cafes and listened in on conversations between women expecting to hear whispers of the unsettling night. You pursued through stacks of old books left forgotten in the back of a library no one else seemed interested in, still uneasy, you tried to settle your mind by keeping to things you knew brought you comfort.

While losing yourself to the dirt and cobbled streets, you wondered if you should pay Jesse McCree a visit and ask if he'd seen anything strange during the night but ultimately decided to figure out your way around town on your own. 

Once you knew the village, it was easy to find a routine you could get comfortable with. 

You stayed up far later than you should have every night that first week. Journal and pen at the ready, you waited at the window hoping to catch the darkness that plagued you the first night you spent in Overland. Exhausted and with little more to look at other than the occasional drunk stumbling home, the sight you waited for never came. Each morning you became increasingly suspicious that what you'd seen had really happened, but the remainder of the black flowers rotting in the vase on your counter told you that you weren't anywhere near as crazy as you felt.

Sleeping in until the afternoons would have you heading to the market during the day and rounding up fascinating characters from across the village to interview on their side of surviving. Once or twice you even caught a glance of Genji across the square, he'd stand next to a man just barely shorter than him that consistently had a scowl on his face. There were passive notes in your journal to ask him for more information when you got a chance, his description of where he was living in the village sitting in wait on the corner of a page not yet visited while your mind was preoccupied with conspiracies.

Evenings were spent alone, eating at a one person table in dim lamplight leafing through old journals for any notes that could have hinted toward Overland being cursed. Something changed after the war, not just the loss of life or the bloodshed, but the town stopped recording everything just after King Reyes was killed. You came to the village for the war, for the regaling stories of soldiers winning battles for love and honor, and yet you believed somewhere in your gut that there was something an entire village left unspoken, an open secret that you were scratching the surface at that had _something_ to do with a king slaughtered in the underbrush of the forest. 

After digging for answers and not getting any, it was on the second week mark that you set out to the Deadlock tavern to demand answers from the only person you felt like you could really ask. 

It was crowded, the people reeked of ale and body odor, you pushed your way through tables of laughing patrons and angry faced gamblers at card games, all the way to the back where you could hear Jesse McCree's boisterous voice recounting some sort of tale. He was surrounded by people, women in booths huddled together with smiles who whispered and giggled during his stories, men who leaned against their knees completely caught up in the way he spoke, a nervous weaponsmith who grimaced every time Jesse McCree aimed his Peacemaker to emphasize a point.

Leaned against the wall as he sat on top of a sturdy wooden table with his cloak thrown off at his side, you could see his built muscles beneath his thin shirt and chest hair just peeking from beneath the low collar. He smiled as you walked up, a smirk almost with the back of his head dropped back to the wall and hands resting heavy at his belt buckle. You wandered through the small crowd and watched from a distance before the man at the center of attention caught your eyes and paused to gesture toward you.

"Well, ain't this a treat." He chuckled and people turned to look at who he was speaking to. "Heard you've been spendin' a lot of time hittin' the books. What brings you out tonight my little reader?"

"Uh-" You didn't know what to say with everyone looking at you in waiting. Heat flushed your face, you didn't want everyone's attention, you just wanted to ask him a few things and get to sleep by a decent time for once. "You seem pretty busy. I- I can come back another time." 

"Nonsense." He stepped down from the table he'd been sitting on to tower above everyone else. "I invited you here, it'd be rude of me not to least buy you a drink." 

Without a care, he shouldered past the crowd and hooked arms with you twirling you on your heels and pulling you away towards the bar. At the counter he put his arm around your shoulder, holding you close against his side after he ordered without you even telling him what you wanted and he turned to speak against your ear. 

"Truth be told, entertain' all them can get a little tiresome." He was smiling against your hair, you could smell the cigar smoke as he spoke. 

"I hope you're not too bored of talking, I came to ask you about those stories you promised." You couldn't help flirting back and leaning against him as you waited on the bartender. 

"For a pretty face like yours? Darlin' I'll stay up talkin' all night if you ask it." He was whispering as if he was saying something dirty to you, it had you hiding a bit smile behind your fingers and feeling blush rushing back to your cheeks. You could almost feel his lips against your skin, something you knew you should have pushed away as soon as you remembered you were actually there to get a job done, but it had been far too long since anyone held you the way he was. 

"You're too much Jesse McCree." You giggled before catching yourself from acting like one of the women in the booths. You wanted to stay somewhat reserved, to not be falling over him like everyone else seemed to be. 

"It's just Jesse." He chuckled as a hand slid over your shoulders and to the back of your neck. 

His fingers trailed at your skin, softly rubbing in circles that sent warm shivers down your spine and straight to your core as you tried to control your breathing. You knew _he_ knew what he was doing, the gentle touch meant to tease, bodies too close together to interpret it any other way, he was testing where your limits were and as the moments passed those boundaries were quickly disappearing. Drinks in hand, you followed him back through the main room, into a door off the side leading to a section that was closed off behind heavy velvet curtains and braided gold rope. It was a decently small sitting area, clearly used many times before by him judging by the spur scrapes across the wood floor leading to a bearskin rug in the center and oversized lush chairs lining the walls but it was private and it was comfortable. 

Jesse was great at small talk. He could drone on and on about nothing at all and you could listen forever to him as long as he kept up his lazy drawl. You took a seat next to him, sipped at your drink and talked about the village and somehow your leg crossed over the other leading your ankle to touch ever so slightly at his leg. Without making a fuss about it, his hand found its way to caress you carefully until you were over an hour into idle conversation and chewing at your lip trying not to think of his fingers running along the outside of your thigh as you sat with him. 

"When you're not busy at that stuffy old library, you should let me take you out for a good time." He finally said as he pulled your leg over his lap. The room had become gray with his cigar smoke, but you didn't mind with the warmth of alcohol sitting in your veins. 

"What is _your_ idea of a good time, Jesse?" You challenged as you shifted in the seat to swing your other leg over his lap as well, making it clear you were more than comfortable with him. 

"Oh, the usual." Sly dog, he was licking his lips and giving you a look that almost had you catching your breath. He leaned forward, holding your legs to his body as his face moved entirely too close. You could feel the pull of fabric at the front of his pants, something hard pressing against the backs of your legs. "Romantic walks in the forest, picnic dates at sunset on the docks, pulling your hair while you're screaming my name." 

Was there a way to properly journal how your entire body felt like it fell into a pit as he pressed forward? Suddenly the dull ache between your legs was a matter of life or death, your shirt far too tight for anything other than big Jesse-sized hands to hold, you gasped with a needing pant right as lips met and your fingers slid into the hair at the back of his head. He smiled as you kissed you, he was sloppy and tasted like heavy smoke almost making you pull away from him in disgust, but he was addicting. You pushed through the bitter burn on your tongue as he parted your lips open and kissed you deeply, his hands curled over your waist and gripped you keeping you locked in place against him. 

In a frantic need to get each other's clothes off, the two of you fell onto the rug with a dull thud making you laugh and moan while he pulled away your top. Gasps escaped as you rested on the floor beneath him, you could see the feet of tavern patrons shuffling from beneath the closed privacy curtain and it hit you just how easily someone could pull it away to find you there allowing yourself to be exposed. Jesse's mouth was at your chest, teeth biting at your nipples and pulling them with a smile until you moaned out and his metal hand working away the rest of your clothes between clumsy attempts to undo the front of his own pants. 

He rushed to push fingers between your legs, facial hair tickled at your neck while he kissed and he rubbed in circles at a spot that had you pausing to question if he actually knew what he was doing. He was too high to be trying to finger you through your panties, too low to be working your clit, but damn if he wasn't completely confident that he was absolutely in the right place. 

"Yeah, that's it." He huffed out with fingers working a frenzy, you were reeling in confusion. "Need you nice and wet for me. I'm gonna turn you around and you're gonna have to be real quiet so no one knows what we're doin' alright? I don't want to be dragged out of here with my pants down at my ankles again." 

Strong hands grabbed at you and turned your body just as you were trying to question him. You bit back your doubt and told yourself that he must have just been a clumsy lover, a cassanova like him had to at least have the wherewithal to bring their partner up to his level- which was, at the moment, already groaning and grinding against your backside. He pulled aside your panties and a metal thumb slid between your folds only to push and hold you open for a brief moment making you gasp against the rug. You could feel him lining against your entrance, his confidence seemed fairly grounded in the size that pushed against you and stretched you with a dull ache.

You wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt. Thought he'd just need to warm up to you, but as the minutes went on reality sunk in. 

You groaned and let your forehead drop to the floor. _Oh no._

He was just terrible.

You adjusted your hips and hoped that would help, but it wasn't anything you were doing, it was just _him_. His movements were clunky and awkward, the way he snapped between your legs was in quick bursts that did next to nothing to relieve the heat he'd built within you. You were almost thankful that you were down against that fur rug, at least then you didn’t have to hide the faces of wondering confusion you made as he continually rode into you proving to be nothing more than a rod prodding at you. There was no rhythm, no attempt made to check where you were or if you were anywhere near close- it was far too clear from his own obscene grunts that he was enjoying himself.

He was too consumed with his own pleasure to even offer you fingers in the correct spot, so you took it upon yourself to push your hand between your legs and finish yourself off as he thrusted aimlessly. 

"Hh- you like it that much?" He breathed out above you as sweat dripped onto your shoulders. 

You wanted to laugh but you knew if he kept talking it would take you completely out of the moment. Instead, you shut your eyes tightly, focused all attention on your clit and your wrist griding against the floor with his movements. Your body must have known you needed to get it over with too, your toes curled in one of the lightest orgasms you could muster up as he proudly gripped into your hair and yanked your head back.

If anyone was going to get either of you caught, it was going to be him moaning out your name towards the ceiling as he twitched and snapped on the final verges of his own high. 

At the very least he knew enough to pull away just before his own release. Jesse pressed his forehead against your hair and grunted as strings of heat crossed along your lower back and his cock rested heavy on the curve of your ass. 

"So-" He panted out and reached for your shirt, using it to wipe away at your back. He was absolutely satisfied with himself and too blind with pride to realize he hadn't really done anything for you. "Those stories you wanted to hear. Think of me as an open book, what do you wanna know?" 

You thought for a long moment considering all the possibilities, anything that could beat around the bush to get him into admitting that what you saw was real. Still half naked and pressed to the rug, you turned to glance at him over your shoulder so you could watch his reaction as he stuffed himself back in his pants. 

"Tell me Jesse, what really happened to King Reyes?" 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!! This is going to be a multichapter fic, I'm super excited to work on this and I hope you enjoyed the first chapter! \\( ͡° ͜/// ͡°)/


	2. Everyone's Favorite Guy

“King Reyes?” Jesse tsked and fell back heavily into one of the chairs in the private booth, fingers closing his belt buckle. He rolled his eyes in annoyance, which you took particular note of as you pulled your ruined shirt back over your body. “Now why in the world would you want to know more about that old grouch? He ain’t that interestin’.” 

"I just think his story is a little strange. I mean, what kind of king turns on his own land like that?" 

"Reyes surrounded himself with corrupt people." He mumbled. You stood, pulling your clothes back over your body and felt his eyes on every inch of your still exposed skin. "He was askin' for trouble."

"What kind of people?" You questioned with a raised brow. 

Jesse reached for your hand and pulled your body towards him. You stumbled forward, shirt still undone you stood with your legs on either side of Jesse's thigh standing above him where he brushed away your hands and roughly began to close your shirt as he looked up to you with a smirk. When he was done he rested his hands on your hips, the smirk on his face only lasted for so long until he lulled his head back in exasperation knowing you weren't going to drop the subject. 

“You know, I like you, even though you've got your mind all caught up in stories. How about this, if you _really_ wanna know then we need to get somewhere a little more private.” His eyes turned to the curtain as his voice dropped to a whisper, he actually looked worried briefly. A smirk twitched back to his lips like he’d forgotten to put a mask back on and he turned to look back at you. “What do you say the two of us head back to my place for a fine evenin’ together?”

“Just to talk.” You warned. 

“Just to talk.” He repeated beneath his breath as he lifted your hand to his lips and kissed at your knuckles. 

Clothes sloppily buttoned together and disheveled, you brought your shawl back around your body to hide the state Jesse had left you in, the stains drying on your shirt were mortifying enough and you didn't need the whole town to know what you'd let him do to you. He proudly pulled back the red curtains and heads turned to stare, immediately drawing blush to your cheeks. You'd been quiet but they stared as if they just _knew_. Women and men in the booths shot horrible dirty looks in your direction, glares of jealousy and anger that unsettled you as you clung unto Jesse's arm passing through the room through the tables and bar of inebriated patrons.

"Jesse?" You harshly whispered as you pulled at his sleeve. "Have you slept with other people in this tavern?" 

"What can I say?" He laughed as he boisterously threw his head back and circled an arm at your shoulders, leading you straight to the door. "Everybody wants to thank the town hero, and who am I to deny them?" 

_Ew,_ your stomach sank and suddenly those looks of jealously towards you looked more like disdain. You could only imagine the disappointment he'd caused to handfuls of people who slept with him expecting to have their minds blown only to be left with an uncomfortable ache for the rest of the night after not getting off but a sense of civility towards him knowing they'd have to be around him because of what he'd done. He seemed completely unbothered, even winking at a group who was huddled together and whispering with pink cheeks themselves as he passed by. You forced yourself to stare at the path ahead, desperately trying not to make eye contact with anyone. 

The streets were lit with yellow lamplight, dust lifted into the cloudy dark skies as people made their way home for the evening, and you were tucked beneath Jesse McCree's arm clutching at your journal. All you could do was hold your breath and try not to interrupt him as he listed off some of the people he'd slept with at the tavern and the little tricks he used to make other people think he was interested in them if he wanted to string them along. It struck you as rightfully bizarre that he would tell you how he'd play with people's emotions just to get a little thrill out of it, he seemed to enjoy being chased after and doted by the local townsfolk. You bit at the inside of your cheek and noted that for as long as you were in Overland you had to keep Jesse at arm's length, Genji's warning of him wasn't so much that he was physically dangerous, it was that he was too blindly egotistical that almost nothing could get through to him. 

Jesse led you to a modest place just off the main road off of the pier. His home was just about everything you thought it would be, it screamed masculine to the core almost to the point of being insecure about it. A large iron gate led to the front entrance where either side of his front door was lined with nude statues, a woman on one side, a man on the other. Inside, his decor was dried antlers, uncared for rugs, and shelves on the walls lined with expensive bourbon. The hooks to hang your shawl were old worn down spurs, all of his glassware consisted of thick frosted mugs that could hold more than you could drink in a night. His grand fireplace was surrounded by mounted weapons and trophies of kills from omnics, to animals, to even opposing soldiers.

"Welcome home, my little reader. If you're ever interested in some one of a kind stories, my library is open to you any time." He motioned to a bookcase that was more nicknacks than books, you recognized many of titles as widely distributed fiction stories set in times of war. 

"Right." You laughed thinking it was a joke only to suck in your lips as soon as he gave you a curious look. 

"Or you might be more interested in the story about the time I saved the village." He curled around you, his finger pointing to a destroyed omnic firearm hanging on the mantle of his fireplace. His body pressed against your back and he hugged you loosely from behind before lips made their way against your neck. 

It was so unfair, the way he kissed you sent fire through your veins and made you rock back against him, but you knew how this ended. His hands explored you, gripping and sliding over your legs and chest between rough kisses that would have you wanting to fall to your knees if you didn't know he'd leave you high and dry from clumsy lovemaking. He was successful for a few moments at distracting you, he even got far enough to unbutton your shawl and let it pool to the floor at your feet before you snapped out of fantasies of what he could be like between the sheets if he just focused on more than himself for a few moments.

"Tell me about that story Jesse." You breathed out, still somewhat enchanted by him. "About saving the village." 

"It was the night King Reyes fell." He whispered against your hair before moving to nip at your ear. He curled your hand in his and pulled away, leading you to a comfortable set of sofas in the corner of his main room where he fell back into the seat and made sure to pull you against him so you were spread over his lap. He seemed like he was trying to distract himself more than you, he leaned forward with kisses to your shoulders and throat between words. "See Reyes and Morrison were fightin' somethin' awful that night. Omnic forces were already pushing into villages in the forest, Morrison was still unwilling to make any moves on them and Reyes... well we all fought with Reyes about how to handle it too. When we wouldn't follow his orders, he turned to the witch for help-"

"Wait, a witch?" 

"Awful woman. Didn't trust her a bit but Reyes thought she was the answer to all his problems." Jesse huffed. "Well, anyways that's not what we're talkin' about. Long story short, that night me and the other members of his court ended up hightailin' it outta there. We encountered a whole army of omnics headin' right for this village, with only a handful of us we were able to fight some of 'em off but the baddest meanest ones slipped past us and were able to knock down the walls that surround it. While I was tryin' to get to town, I got left behind by my team and one of those damn omnics shot my arm clean off from here down."

Jesse lifted his metal arm, his other hand brushed at his elbow and pointed up to his hand where it stayed waiting in the air near your face before the backs of metal fingers caressed at your cheek. You could see the pain in his eyes and you turned to kiss the fingers he looked at with such contempt. 

"You were all alone?" You choked out. 

"Got left behind." He cleared his throat and ran a cold thumb over your lip. "But I'm resilient, always have been. There was this particularly big one that got into the village and I could hear the screamin' through the forest. Ripped off the end of my cloak and tied off my arm 'cause I knew I had to get in there and save those people who couldn't defend themselves. So I'm bleedin' out, barely able to stay awake even and I rush in without a plan. People were already dead in the street. People I could have helped if I had just got there sooner-" 

"Jesse." You cupped his face, fingers running through soft facial hair. "I'm sure you did absolutely everything you could. I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to stir up feelings that would hurt you, I didn't realize it was that bad-"

"No, no it's alright. I took the bastard down, took me a full chamber, all direct shots but when he fell down against the ground it shook the whole place like a massive earthquake. There were some other smaller omnics that got it after but I passed out cold in the street. Woke up the next mornin' in the infirmary surrounded by a bunch of strangers all cryin' and thankin' me for savin' them. Been here ever since, honestly it ain't half bad, I spend all day just monitoring the city makin' sure everyone's okay and check the borders. It's my duty now to make sure nothing gets past our walls ever again." 

"That must be a lot on your shoulders." You shifted against him, suddenly his self righteous confidence seemed rightfully placed. 

"The burden's been a little easier since your pretty face came rollin' into town." He pulled you in for another gentle kiss. 

Legs over his lap and your core pressed against his hips you could feel him growing hard against you. It would have felt nice, but as he kissed you all you could think about was the way he fumbled with his hand between your legs at the tavern. The smile on his lips told you he was just as confident as before and that had you groaning and dropping your head back as he kissed down your neck. He was clumsy, but maybe something casual wasn’t so bad. Deep down he was a good guy. There wasn’t a plan to be in Overland long, just through a couple of seasons _at most_ if you could manage to find people willing to share the kinds of things you hoped to hear, if he was going to be the person you slept with while you were in town you wanted to at least get off from it. As he kissed at you and grabbed at your waist your head was in the clouds, _maybe you could teach him_ , guide him into being a better lover if you broke it to him softly that he wasn’t anywhere near as godlike as he thought he was. You owed him nothing but you wanted to thank him all the same. 

“Wait, Jesse-” You gasped as his hands gripped hard against the curve of your ass.

“I don’t much like waiting.” He purred out with a rough kiss to the side of your neck.

“I think we rushed this before. I want you to really enjoy yourself, slow it down and take your time, you know?” You tried to be light as you delivered the blow, to keep a chuckle in your voice. 

"Oh, darlin' I enjoyed myself plenty, trust me." He smiled as he kissed up your jaw to your ear where he bit lightly with a heavy breath against you.

You took your opportunity to ride against his body, biting your lip as a happy moan escaped his throat. He was a bit dense, but you weren't going to let that stop you. With his hands roaming your body, you led his fingers to your shirt and traced down his arm as he pulled it from you.

Without the fear of being caught you could focus on him completely. You worked open his shirt and pushed it from his shoulders, he had this scar where a metal arm connected to his body at his elbow that scattered out like lightning bolts. Whatever made him lose his arm was far more than just fighting omnics, they looked like kind of scars you'd only seen caused by magic. He squeezed at your chest and made your eyes flutter, distracting your mind. He had this thick chest hair that you could run your fingers through and grab at as he built you up, his beard was messy and the smell of his cigars stuck to it but you were starting to not mind it as much. He favored his true hand heavily, if he went to grab you or slide fingers over the back of your neck it would always be with warm fingers while the metal ones pulled away at your panties.

Part of him was uncomfortable being beneath you, that much you could feel. His shoulders would roll and he would push himself up only for you to grab at the back of his chair and lock him in place with more teasing circles against his lap. 

He stripped you down to nothing but your pride, you had him with only his pants hanging open and boots sliding across his floor to open his legs wide. He leaned forward to kiss you, but you were determined to not get right into being pressed against the floor again and you surprised him as you pushed a finger to his lips, silencing him as you stood to step back and slide down to your knees in front of him. He watched intently while you slid hands over his thighs and pulled him free from the front of his pants, already hard against your palms it was easy to get him going from just a few pumps.

Your intent was to undress him as well, you had fingers hooked at the waist of his pants as you kneeled with your face between his legs and your body pressed against his knee. It seemed he still wanted to be somewhat in control. He lifted his toes and dug the spur of his boot against the ground, the top of his boot pressed flush against your folds. The surprise of something so hard and uneven grinding against you in a way even his own fingers couldn't have done made your legs shake. He must have heard the gasp, must have felt the way your thighs squeezed around his boot because this deeply satisfied moan left him as he ran his hands over his face and into his hair. His hips adjusted forcing his cock to swell in your hand and you slowly teased him with your tongue pressing up his length. 

"Don't tell me you like that?" He breathed out with lust dripping from every word. 

You moaned as your lips pressed to him. The way he reacted to your mouth was exactly what you needed, happy chuckles with every sinking inch into your throat, fingers that would curl into your hair and hold you as you bobbed your head in his lap, shudders of breath when he would feel you pushing back against the top of his boot. He seemed to be thoroughly enjoying the feeling of you swallowing him down while you rode against his boot, so much so that you could feel him forcing himself to hold back each time your lips would curl at his tip only to fall back down over his length again. The hand in your hair would force you to slow your pace or pause while he squeezed and groaned, his other hand gripping at his chest falling with deep controlled breaths.

You were so close, almost on the verge of reaching your peak after working yourself against his boot, but right when you were about to let yourself feel the rush of release he dropped his shoe firmly to the ground and pulled your hair at the base forcing your head back as you were gasping and trying to find him between your legs to finish yourself off.

"Get up here." He demanded with a fist of your hair pulling you enough to make you moan through gritted teeth. 

You assumed it would be better because you would be on top, in a hurry to not lose the high you were at you climbed over his lap and gripped against his shoulders while you lined yourself against his tip. He couldn't help himself, even though you were trying to go at your own pace, he snapped hard into you and his teeth bit at the base of your neck mixing your moment of pleasure with a strike of pain. Teeth biting at you became a rough sucking against your skin, you scratched at his back attempt to meet him at his level while he marked you, but he was consumed with marking you to a point where you knew you'd be left with something you'd be hiding beneath clothes for a week. 

He had this way of holding you and leaning forward that made you hug against him for support. His arms wrapped at your body and rocked you against him at a pace that didn't match with your needs, but he was trying his hardest to pump into you with a force that would make your eyes roll. Even though you were trying to control him so you could get yourself off, he was manhandling you and you could feel the dull coil of heat twitching with the afterthought of an orgasm that would take hours to build back up again. You couldn't stop the light squeezing of your walls but he took it as a compliment. It was weak, but at least he made you cum, and that felt like a step in the right direction.

Jesse was moaning your name against your neck between breaths as he bit at you, it seemed he was taking your nails against his back as an encouragement to get even rougher. No longer able to build yourself back up, you were left bouncing back against him with a headache rolling in waiting for him to finish.

Arms squeezed your body close to his, a pitched scream left as he lifted you and twisted around until you landed hard in the seat he was previously in. You stared up at him with an open mouth shocked at the sudden movement that left your head spinning, he held your legs open but pulled away and worked himself with his hand as he looked down at you and pumped quickly. When that didn't seem to immediately get him off, he grew impatient and grabbed at your chest, roughly handling you and fingers pinching at your nipple making you squirm against the backrest with an arched back. He sucked at his lower lip, eyes wandering from the mark at your neck down to the way you were spread open for him. Somehow, his gaze made you feel even more undressed than being completely naked. 

He came hard with long pulses across your stomach and chest. His body grew weak as he released and fell forward holding his weight with one hand against your body and his eyes taking in the full sight of having you beneath him. In the silence between deep breaths you watched his stomach muscles twitching and his shoulders relaxing. 

"Please don't clean me off with my shirt this time." You said with a half smile. 

"Bath is that way if you wanna clean off." He motioned with his head towards a closed wooden door before he pushed himself off you and caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror. 

You watched in disbelief as he smiled at his own reflection and admired the way his muscles flexed when he reached out to help you up. You left him to his own devices as you hid away behind the bathroom door. He clearly didn't have people over often, his towels were left in piles on the floor, the bottom of his brass tub clearly left with the grime of years of bathing. His mirror, lined in gold and mounted to the wall was dulled with a layer of dust and water spots where he'd shaken his hair after a bath and droplets flew around the room. As unappealing as it was, you chose to clean yourself off rather than live with knowing he had covered your skin.

At the very least the water was hot enough to sink comfortably beneath. You sat quietly in the bathtub of a man you barely knew and stared at the mark he'd left you with in a fogging mirror. Your fingers touched it lightly, even the slightest of pressure made you wince. It was dark and curved up from the base of your neck up the side- he'd clearly enjoyed himself a little too much. Maybe it was naive optimism, but part of you believed you really could make something good out of being with him for the time you were in Overland. You knew you needed to protect yourself though, the last thing you wanted to do was catch real feelings and settle down when there was still so much of the world to learn about, sitting there in that tub you were blushed with the thought of sleeping with him again, and yet already running through your goodbye speech for months down the line. 

"Here-" His voice drifted in after a short knock and the squeak of door hinges. You watched his hand poke in through a cracked door, a fist curled around a hanger and a plush robe hung from it. Clearly made for him, even sporting his initials in red thread at the breast, it looked fantastically comfortable and warm. His hand blindly searched for a hook on the back of the door before leaving it there waiting for you. "If you wanted somethin' to put on after you're all finished up." 

"Thank you?" 

Jesse McCree baffled you. An overly confident and terrible lover, a town savior and village drunk, yet just beneath the surface there was someone in there that actually cared and yearned for attention that wasn't just blind admiration.

You stayed in the bath until the water ran cold and the smell of spices wafted through the air. Curiosity got the best of you and as the tub drained you peeked out through a cracked door to see him stark naked, he was sniffing something from a pan that had been heating on the stovetop. He set it down and stabbed at it with a fork before bringing whatever it was to his lips for a taste, you could see the grimace on his face before it switched to surprised satisfaction and he began to separate it onto two plates. You closed the door quietly before taking a few final moments to collect yourself and bring that lush robe around your body where it hung loose to the floor at your feet. 

"Smells good." You said as you opened into the main room, shaking water from your hair. 

"Don't get too excited, I may have accidentally went a bit heavy handed with the seasoning." Jesse was leaned against his wall, sanding aside a dining table made up of freshly cooked food, still proud of himself but it was hard to take him seriously with his flaccid dick in direct eye sight of the meal. "But uh, you said you wanted to know all about King Reyes. Have a seat and get out your little journal thing, I promised we'd talk." 

Thankfully he sat across from you and hid his lap beneath the table, he watched you with glossy excited eyes as you carefully took your first bite and tried your absolute hardest to pretend like what you put in your mouth didn't taste like something scraped off the bottom of a ship. He tried, he was clearly happy to have someone to cook for, so you forced yourself to smile and nod like you enjoyed it. Only able to force it down when you turned away to dig through your pockets in clothes laying near your chair, you hid your expressions of disgust as you pulled out your journal. 

"So, where do you wanna start?" He asked with a mouthful of food.

"Before all the fighting what was he like?" 

"When it came down to it, he was a good guy. Kept me outta jail on more than one occasion, took in all the soldiers that Morrison wouldn't let into his perfect army. He really cared for us, I think. Had a wicked sense of humor, could make a drink that would knock you on your ass. Always the first person to know if you had somethin' wrong, he could just sense it." Jesse chewed at his food, nervously forking away at untouched sections of his plate. "Things started gettin' bad when he got sick. Started making rash decisions, always wanted to be right in the middle of a fight. Then him and Morrison started goin' at each other about controllin' stupid shit, who owned that village, who could collect taxes from those people, how much land people could get to farm on, it was all so... so, _greedy_ and for no good reason 'cause we all knew what they really wanted to fight about was how to handle the omnics comin' in. Friends for decades and it all blew up 'cause they couldn't see eye to eye."

"And he started working with a witch?" 

"That's when things really fell apart. I don't know for sure what she did, but after they started workin' together it was like he didn't trust his own anymore. He was goin' off to these secret meetings with people that none of us recognized, he was irritated all the time, drove just about everyone away. He acted like it was him against the world." 

"It must have been hard for everyone to have the kingdom split like that. I'm sure it killed King Morrison taking matters into his own hands." You bit at your lip, watching him play with his food thoughtlessly. "And to witness something like that, you must be scarred-" 

"The only person who witnessed it was the witch." He angrily stabbed at his plate before silencing himself with his food. "When we all fled from the castle she was holding it together with her magic, Morrison had ordered it to be destroyed but if it was then the omnics would have a clear path straight to the forest that leads to all the villages and to Morrison's castle. People know to stay away from the base of the mountain where King Reyes once lived with all his knights, that land is condemned to an awful fate where rivers run red with blood and monsters fester unchecked in the forest. She was a terrible woman, but her magic has kept us safe by holding that castle together for, well I guess it's been close to seven years now." 

"Wait, his castle is still out there?" Your jaw dropped, all the stories you'd heard before made it sound like it was obliterated in a fight between two kings. 

"Yes, but I'm warnin' you, the few people who have gone out there to try and loot the place show up as skeletons washing down into the ocean months later. It's nothin' to mess around with. You stay here, let me keep you safe right where you belong, with me." 

With Jesse McCree. You weren't sure that's where you really belonged. As he ate, you stared out his window, eyes cast down past a dark treeline with a mind wandering to the tales you could create if you could find the place. You'd relied on others for details of grand adventures for so long and something in you was tempted to walk into the forest until you stumbled upon an abandoned castle. You couldn't explain it, the pulling feeling in your stomach, it was the same feeling that had you staying up well past the sunset watching for black clouds to darken the streets once more.

For the rest of the night he told you uninteresting stories about his battles between trees. You smiled and pretended like you were interested all while you wrote down possible routes out of the village that could lead to where you wanted to be- you needed to get your hands on a map. Jesse downed a few more drinks, his stories getting grander and even less believable each time and as you sat with him back on the couch he originally pulled you to, all you could do was stare at the scar connecting his arm to his prosthetic wondering if he wasn't quite giving you the whole truth. 

You knew you stayed up late to talk to him, but you woke with a grogginess you didn't expect after realizing you'd fallen asleep listening to him when he was midsentence. He'd carried you to his bed, placed you beneath warm heavy covers and slept at your side until the sun was bright and shining with orange rays coming through his bedroom window. He stirred to the moving of your head to look at him, and for a brief moment you saw the most genuine version of himself.

"I've- You-" His voice was deep from still being half asleep, he turned and placed a hand at your cheek. "No one has ever stayed the night with me before." 

"Oh." You breathed out, surprised to see him looking at you so softly. "Right. Um, good morning Jesse." 

You sat up and swung your legs over the side of his bed, standing too quickly and making your head light. 

"Wait, lay with me a while longer-" 

"I- I'll be right back." You told him as you rushed to the bathroom. 

Whatever this was, you knew from the twisting in your stomach that it wasn't what you wanted. As quietly as you could you rushed to hang his robe back on the hanger in the bathroom and tiptoed around his main room gathering your clothes. You could hear him stretching and yawning in bed, it didn't feel good to be putting on your clothes and leaving without saying goodbye, but you were sure he could handle a bit of rejection. Guilt began to sink in just as you circled your shawl over your shoulders and reached for the handle, he called out to you, joking that you were taking too long, but you bit your tongue and shut the door behind you as silently as possible. 

The morning was just cold enough that the sea breeze hit your skin and made you shiver. The streets were empty, save the occasional vendor pushing their carts towards the market square. Your feet quickly took you to his gate where you shut it gently behind you, hoping to get home before anyone could catch you leaving Jesse McCree's house as such a mess before the day really started. 


	3. Different From The Rest Of Us

“Tell me you are not leaving from where I believe you are." An unenthused voice spat out behind you as you clicked Jesse McCree's gate shut. 

You froze with your lips sucked between your teeth and a sinking feeling of shame washing over, all you could do was stand there with your eyes squeezed tight and your head weakly shaking no. Of all people, why did _Genji_ have to be awake and out of his house so early? You turned to him with an expression asking for forgiveness but he was entirely unimpressed. Really, you shouldn't feel the need to explain yourself to someone you barely knew, but you almost felt like you needed to blab about your feelings since he seemed to be the closest thing to a friend you had in the village. You opened your mouth to explain, but he cut you off with a finger raised in the air. 

"I warned you about him." He wasn't going to let you brush it off. He rounded you, dark eyes narrowing harshly as you peeked out to see the disbelief on his face. "And that _thing_ on your neck, are you out of your mind?" 

"He- he's really nice." You finally squeaked out as you grabbed Genji's arm and pulled him away from Jesse's house, trying to get away from the scene of the crime as quickly as possible. "Yeah he's a bit self centered and I think he exaggerates some stuff, but he doesn't seem all that bad." 

"Let me guess-" Genji tsked as he paused to lean towards your face. "He told you his story about saving the village by himself to win you over."

"Well-"

"Did he again fail to mention the part about knocking me out in the forest? Or how I had to come in and clean up his mess after he crashed a giant omnic into the village walls letting in hundreds of omnic soldiers?" 

"He didn't mention that exactly-" Your cheeks were flushed, suddenly you felt like an absolute idiot for believing anything that came out of that brute's mouth. Your fingers rested against the love mark he left at your neck, Jesse was arrogant but he didn't seem like an outright _liar_. 

Genji tsked and rolled his eyes before nodding in the direction of his home, he held up a small bag of from the early morning market.

"Sorry, I suppose it really is none of my business, you are free to be with whoever you want to be with even if I have bad blood with them." His eyes turned to the side, he had kind eyes despite the years of horror you knew he lived through. "Well, if you're going to be out for a bit, my brother and I are about to have breakfast if you would like to join us." 

"Actually, that sounds great." The meal Jesse made you was sitting like a stone in your stomach, you needed something more than overspiced gruel or half pulled loaves of bread. You wanted to pry, wanted to question him to find out the truth about what happened that day, but Genji busied you with lengthy descriptions of his favorite breakfast foods. 

He led you towards a two story brick building pressed against the pier overlooking the misty docks, time and war had withered away the color of the home leaving it a washed out gray. You followed behind as he took you through a carved wood door, you turned just before entering their home and stared into a courtyard, you were shrouded in the shadow of an archway just to the side of the front door which led into an open section out back stretching to another home that laid in ruins. In the center of the courtyard stood a massive willow tree that swayed in the light sea breeze, a crudely dug out pond just to the side surrounded by wood planks stacked still in construction yet untouched for months.

Decorations were sparse, save for the very few personal items hung on the walls with time yellowed string. Cracked doors led to rooms overlooking the courtyard, you walked past them admiring the view they must enjoy every morning of the small pond. He took you straight to a cozy kitchen where a man stood blowing at the steam of a small cup and a silk robe wrapped at his waist. He looked to Genji in confusion first before his dark eyes looked you over with a grimace. You could see the resemblance between the two but Genji's brother was sporting a massive tattoo along his arm that he turned away from you to hide. 

"I did not know you would be bringing company." He huffed before sipping at his drink. His brother was, in the _nicest_ way to describe it, standoffish. 

"She is a friend, the one I met on the ship." Genji didn't seem to mind his brother's bad attitude. "Do not mind Hanzo, he is particularly cranky in the mornings. He is easier to talk to after he has eaten." 

"It looks like you were suctioned by an octopus." He snarled, harsh eyes staring at Jesse's mark. 

"Hanzo-" Genji lifted his hand as if he was going to grab his brother.

"Trust me, I think I would have had a better night if I had been with an octopus." You laughed as you helped Genji lay out the morning spread. Your comment made Hanzo's cheeks pink and he hid his face behind the cup as he stared out the window. 

The Shimada brothers were an odd pair. Hanzo begrudgingly helped out putting together a small breakfast to split between everyone, Genji kept this small smile on his face- he seemed far happier no longer stuck beneath the deck of the ship. With plates stacked on arms, the three of you moved to sit at a dining table low on the floor with a view overlooking the ocean and the morning clouds that were drifting far from the village. Hanzo kept glancing at the mark on your neck, Genji would make every effort to avoid looking at it, but they held a quiet conversation as the sound of waves busied your mind through the open window.

"What do you plan to do with all these stories?" Hanzo questioned you after Genji told him why you had been traveling the world. 

"I plan on putting them into a book, so anyone can experience these adventures from all over without ever leaving their home." You leaned back in your chair, enjoying a light conversation for once.

"She has been at the library from the moment she came into town." Genji laughed. 

Something flipped in your stomach, unanswered questions you never got to the bottom of haunting you. 

"Hey, there's um, there's actually something I want to ask you about." You set your food down, nails tapping on the table nervously. They looked to you with curious eyes. "Did you by chance notice anything weird about the night we came into town?" 

"It rained a bit, if I am remembering that correctly." Genji turned to his brother, eyes squinting in thought. "Yes, it stormed that night. We were going to build a walkway around the pond but the ground was too muddy." 

"It stormed, but nothing... unusual?" You were trying to pull it out of him, to know without a doubt that someone else had seen what you saw. 

"Are you not familiar with sea storms?" Hanzo questioned harshly, almost judgmental that you were even questioning it. 

"I am, I just- I think I saw something that-" You sucked in a breath, knowing you sounded like you'd lost your mind. "No, nevermind-"

"What did _you_ see?" Genji leaned toward you, concern and worry written across his face.

You breathed in, lungs shaking as you wouldn't be able to breathe unless you spilled your truth. 

“I don’t know how to explain it. I felt like I was the only person seeing the world being swallowed whole. It was just completely darkness, everything was black. There was- it was just this feeling in my stomach that made me think something terrible was going to happen and I was completely powerless to stop it.” Your voice was wavering but you tried to keep a smile, your head was feeling light as a doom set onto you that you shouldn't be talking about what you saw that night. “And- I know it sounds insane, but when I woke up the next morning... I had these flowers- they- they were just dead, completely rotten in less than a few hours.” 

Their silence after words fell from you left you hollow. You'd said too much, you ruined it, of course they hadn't seen what you did- 

“You must understand what that means?” Genji said with a scowl. “You are cursed.”

“Cursed? No, I’d know if I’ve been cursed.” You laughed, brushing it off as if it was crazier of him to suggest it than it was for you to actually have been cursed. “No one has had any reason to curse _me_." 

Strained silence. The two brothers shared a knowing glance that flipped your insides. 

“Sometimes it is not you who is cursed, but you can be a byproduct of it.” Genji’s voice softened and his eyes fell to the side. There was a pain in his gaze and his shoulders tightened as he shifted in his seat. You looked to Hanzo who clutched at his arm, nails digging into his skin at his tattoo. Genji touched your arm softly. “We would know. You have the same look as my brother.” 

“You were cursed?” You stared at Hanzo, who refused to look you in the eyes. 

“Speaking on technicalities, _I_ was not.” He looked like he wanted to disappear. “Our family. Our parents were the ones who were cursed.” 

“We come from a long ancestry of assassins.” Genji took over as Hanzo turned, unable to bring himself to speak of it any more. “When you do what our family did, they were only bound to cross the wrong person eventually. Long before Hanzo was born, they went after this sorcerer, she drew her magic from dragons and was far more powerful than they had anticipated. They were able to kill her… but in her final breath, she doomed our family to never again live peacefully that our parents would have their bond scorched and watch their own family kill one another.” 

“As we grew up, we believed it to be an empty threat. The Shimada clan was stronger than any curse, our blood would bind us together.” Hanzo lifted his arm, showing you the tattoo covering his entire arm with the scales of blue dragons. “But this appeared on the eve of Genji’s twentieth birthday.”

Something was _wrong_. 

Your heart was racing, you were sitting perfectly still and yet your feet were telling you to run as fast and as far as you could.

Out, you needed to get out and away from wherever that conversation was going.

What were they talking about still?

Genji was saying something about curses affecting bystanders just as much as the people who actually carried the burden, something about blind murder and families torn apart by a loved one being turned into a monster. Your skin was running cold with chills, Hanzo was droning about strangers who had nothing to do with curses forced to endure the effects of being slept for a lifetime or turned to stone with eyes cast to the sky for eternity, curses that bind fate of friends or try to separate lovers who should never be. 

There was a pounding in your skull as you tried to listen but you could feel yourself fading. 

"Are you... feeling alright?" Hanzo was leaned toward you, his hand outreached but not yet touching your arm.

Both of them had deep looks of concern like they'd been talking to you without a response for far too long. 

You couldn't speak. You needed to speak. You needed to say something, you had to say something but your heads were shaking and you _couldn't_.

With wide eyes and a wave of your hand, you excused yourself from the quiet table. Hand slapped over your mouth, you stumbled away through an open door and down a hall to a small bathroom where you slammed the door behind you. Your head was spinning like you were going to be sick, your body wanted to collapse as you leaned against their sink and you squeezed your eyes shut hearing faint whispers. 

You couldn't be _cursed_ , you'd done nothing wrong!

In a sobering moment, all the anxiety riddling your mind silenced at once.

From the solitude of that bathroom, you could hear heavy echoing footsteps from some distant place, they were hesitant as they got closer only to stop and fade away as your eyes snapped open. Your reflection was one you recognized, but you stepped back away from yourself as you stared down at the love mark Jesse left at your neck. It was no longer a dark pink, instead it was inky black and spreading across your veins visible beneath your skin making you look deathly ill. Your arms leaned against the counter weakly gripping at the sink to keep yourself up.

Neck weak and your head lulling heavy, your eyes turned to the window overlooking the courtyard. You needed to look outside, drawn to it like a moth to flame unable to stop yourself you stared with heavy eyes.

Dark clouds surrounded the courtyard, pitch black and blocking out the sun, black mist between the vines of the willow tree danced together as branches swayed in silent wind. You wanted to gasp for breath but your body refused, weakened and unable to think straight you leaned over the sink keeping to keep yourself upright as your head spun. Full body aches hit you, muscles twitched and tightened with small convulsions that had you scratching at the stone countertop desperately trying to find hold of anything. 

**“Leave Overland.”** A woman’s voice rumbled against your eardrums, it was soft and yet had a bite to it that sent a shiver down your spine. Her voice gripped at you as you stood there staring at yourself in the mirror with nothing in the reflection of the mirror. It was nerve-wracking, you couldn’t see anything but you could feel it, you could feel _her_. Long fingers and sharp nails curled at your chin holding you in place, tight grip with nails threatening to break your skin. 

You couldn't keep yourself up any longer, all at once you fell to the floor and groaned as your shoulders and the side of your head hit hard tile.

This was what death felt like, you were sure of it. Death itself was holding you in its grip.

No control, you couldn’t move your limbs or your fingers, it was like something was forcing you down and claws were curling from the cracks in the tiles to drag you down beneath the dirt. 

The cold that overcame you chilled to the core, it left you with goosebumps across your skin, left your veins feeling empty and drained as if your blood had poured out and pooled around you. An absolute sense of hopelessness, of being surrounded by nothing weighed heavily on your body. The very darkness that filled the streets was now sinking its claws into you and hooking into your skin trying to drown you in an ocean of emptiness. 

**_“Leave Overland."_** Her voice came again much harsher. 

You could feel her words in your throat, thick and suffocating, forcing you to curl in on yourself in an attempt to gasp it away. It was a warning, a _threat_ , something or _someone_ did not want you in Overland and you were at a frantic loss wondering why. Your throat felt like it would swell and prevent you from ever breathing again.

With every last ounce of strength left in you, you forced yourself to kick at a decorative vase standing in the corner of the room, it spun before crashing to the ground with a loud shatter and you screamed out Genji’s name with a breaking voice.

Freezing cold and pain was blinding you, even with open eyes everything blurred and your sight tunneled. Weak on the floor, you were only able to stare through the window far into the courtyard as you watched the willow tree shaking between black clouds. 

A dull thud and unfocused movement swirled around you before a face came into view and strong arms wrapped beneath your body pulling you from the floor. Genji’s voice was somewhere behind you, there was a hand at the back of your neck trying to hold your head up, your vision was fluttering towards his brother who was placing you gently on cushions at the corner of the room.

Their voices were above you, worried and whispering as you slowly came back into your own mind. 

"This is beyond our help Hanzo, she should be taken to the king for the kind of magic this would require-" 

"You only wish to escort her to the king's castle so you can see that witch you are so fond of-" 

You groaned as you curled your body against blankets, your eyelids were sore and heavy almost as if you'd been crying for hours and it hurt to open them enough to look up at Genji and Hanzo who were arguing at your side. Their quibble fell silent as they turned to look at you, Hanzo had this intensity in his eyes that scared you. Genji kneeled to help you sit up, careful with you until you were able to hold yourself up without your head spinning. 

As soon as you were upright, it felt like you were smacked in the face with reality. Out in the courtyard, the willow tree stood lifeless. Dead leaves scattered to the ground and across the pond, limp branches hung down with black rot riddling through the trunk. Guilt hit you, shame that you'd somehow brought this down to others as you looked helplessly to the brothers. 

"Did you see it again?" Genji asked softly. 

"I heard a voice this time too." You nodded your head, tears welling in your eyes. "It told me to leave, to get out of Overland. I'm scared- I can't leave yet, I have to finish my work, but if something like _that_ keeps happening-" 

"There is always a way to break a curse." He turned to look at Hanzo before continuing quietly. "Although breaking it will not always free you of a curse's effects." 

"It is not a pleasant idea, but we will need to understand who either cursed you or who you are being affected by. Have you crossed anyone since you came to Overland?" Hanzo kept the stern look on his face, uncaring that you were still shaking. 

"No one." You breathed out. "The only people I really even talked to when I came were Genji and Jesse McCree. You don't think Jesse-?" 

"That thick-sharpshooter could not cast a spell to save his life." Genji clicked his tongue before standing next to his brother once more. "No, someone incredibly powerful is trying to keep you away from this place for some reason. If you think you can handle a few day's journey, we can take you to King Morrison's castle to see his witch and she can detect the magic being used on you." 

"Speak for yourself." Hanzo tsked. "I want no part in this, one curse is enough for me to handle." 

You looked to Genji who sucked at his cheeks and cast his eyes down. He held out his hands for you to take them, you reached out and held on tight for him to pull you from the floor. All you could see behind him was the willow tree, the bright sunshine was beating down on it and you just knew that things would only keep intensifying if you stayed. In a bitter moment of acceptance, you gripped Genji's arm tightly. 

"When can we leave?"

* * *

Genji asked you to meet him at the village gate at sunrise the next morning. You hurried home to pack a small bag and to gather provisions for the trip, knowing you'd be gone for at least a week's time, you cleaned and left a note on your counter for anyone that may come in to check on you. Jesse's flowers, long since dead, were tossed in the trash, windows left tightly secured to stop any leaking rain from storms, and you tucked your journal at a pocket on the inside of your shawl knowing to always keep it close to you. 

As the sun lifted into the air, you woke to crows cawing from the forest. Their harsh morning voices echoed across the village and faded into the distance as you made your way down the dusty town streets. Blocks from the gate, your name was being called after you'd passed by the tavern and you grimaced as you rolled your eyes knowing Jesse was still drunk and stumbling out of his usual hangout at such early hours of the morning. You turned to look over your shoulder and found him jogging to catch up with you.

"It is a little early, isn't it Jesse?" You asked as his spurs skidded on the stone and he leaned against a light pole. 

"Where's my favorite little reader headin' off to with all that?" He asked, brushing off your question as he reached for your bag. You twisted away from him, stopping his hand from being able to grab you. "Looks like you're headin' out of town, and I know you tried to get away from me after I took you back home, but you don't need to skip town just 'cause I left a little love bit on you." 

"I have business with the king's court." You lied through your teeth knowing he was already half asleep from booze and an all night bender.

"You shouldn't be goin' all that way without some help. Give me-" He sucked down a hiccup before looking to you with bloodshot eyes. "Gimme a minute and I can pack up to help you out, alright?"

"I already have an escort, Jesse."

"Who in the hell thinks they can protect you-"

"Genji Shimada." You cut him off, already annoyed that he was making you late. Jesse's face fell, his expression dropping now with nothing to say. There was a history there that you didn't have time to ask him about. "Go home, get some sleep." 

"I only wanna go home if you're comin' with me." He angrily slurred as his body swayed forward and arms circled around your body into a tight hug. He reeked and the front of his shirt was still damp from what you hope was just a spilled drink. "There's somethin' special about you, you know that? Got me feelin' all sorts of ways I ain't ever before. Drives me crazy you don't act like all them other people who want to be around me all the time."

"I have to go, Jesse." You mumbled against his chest. He released you, eyes glossy with hurt and he chewed at his lower lip as if you'd pushed him away. What Genji told you wasn't sitting right in your stomach, he wasn't an awful person, he was an idiot but he clearly had such genuine emotions. "How about when I get back into town you take me on a date? A real one, not just to the tavern or to spend the night. Think about what you'd want to do and we can work it out once I'm in town again." 

"Yeah?" His eyes lit up and the worry across his lips lifted to a small smile. 

"Just, get some sleep and take a bath first." You laughed before turning to walk away. Jesse called out behind you wishing you luck on your travels. 

Genji was waiting with arms crossed at the gate. He was in armor you'd never seen on him before, a metal faceplate was lifted to the top of his head and his body hidden beneath sleek steel with long swords attached at his back. The village gates opened with an echoing squeak to the dark forest trail, from the ground the trees were massive and loomed above you blocking out the sunlight. 

"Keep your eyes open, this forest is known for the monsters that lurk within it." Genji pulled his mask down.

"Do you really think we'll be able to find out what the curse is?" You asked as you stared up at the branches expecting to see red eyes glowing back at you.

"The witch we are going to see is very powerful, she was the one who helped me." He paused and fists curled at his sides. "She was able to keep me alive after the curse should have killed me. I have no doubts that she will be able to help you too." 


	4. It's A Guest, It's A Guest!

Genji knew the road between the village and Morrison’s castle well.

Monsters and unknown beings resided deep within the trees, but there were other dangers to be alert to. The first few hours would be safe beneath the thick pine trees where trunks reached high into the sky and prevented the morning sun from beating down on you, as long as you stayed on the trail the monsters of the forest would leave you be. From the village up until a sturdy stone bridge on the edge of the forest trail, the majority of danger lurking in the dark were omnics decommissioned and wandering aimlessly. 

"Many of them are harmless so long as you do not attack them." There was something unsettling about Genji's facemask, he was warning you of omnics while he looked like one himself. "Once we have crossed the bridge however, the omnics there will attack with no warning." 

The bridge was about a half day's distance walking from the village. As you were fiddling with the edges of your shawl Genji when on about how it was rebuilt after the previous wood one was set ablaze during the attack toward the village, that now it was safer than ever and was even active with jumping fish and lonely wildlife. With a hint of nervousness, he then told you after the bridge would be a clearing. A large field with tall grass that shimmered in tones of blue at dawn. The field would be littered with grave markers, the grass was once splattered with blood between Morrison and Reyes soldiers who fought to the bitter end for their king. It would stretch all the way to the tree line and curve over a hillside- the way he spoke of it, you wondered how many lives of people who knew were ended there. 

Just beyond the field would be a split in the road, to the left it would lead deeper into the forest where King Reyes once resided at the base of the mountain. To the right, you would follow the road to Morrison’s castle which would stand tall among valleys of sunflowers. Just after the battlefield would be a small town, a group of houses with no more than a dozen families who ran a carriage service moving people all across Overland. From there, by horse and carriage it would be another two days of travel but at least you wouldn't be walking.

"What is King Morrison like?" You asked after Genji had gone quiet. 

"He takes all matters very seriously." Genji replied after some thought. "He was always upset with King Reyes for doing things without official ordinance, I do not think I could even count on my fingers how many times we all ended up in the holding cells of his castle because we got caught doing something without permission." 

"It sounds like King Reyes was a bit more relaxed." You laughed.

"Not relaxed, reckless." 

"Oh." Whoops. 

"It would be wise to not bring up Reyes around King Morrison." He warned quietly. "His court is already wary of me because of my connections to him, I do not need trouble after just returning to the kingdom." 

"I'll be on my best behavior, I promise." You smiled at him but were unsure if he could see you through the side of his mask as he faced forward. 

He seemed uninterested in your small talk, you were unsure if it was because he didn't want to speak with you or if it was because he was falling back into soldier tendencies. His steps were wide and quick, oftentimes you found yourself fascinated with fauna lining the road and stopped to inspect it before running to catch up with him again. Your body still ached from falling to their bathroom floor but he didn't seem to care and would call over his shoulder that you needed to keep up. Trees all looked the same, bushes stretched far into the darkness and occasionally you would hear the distant call of animals echoing from within the forest. Between your feet starting to shoot with pain at every step and your mind dully buzzing along for the journey, you thought you may die of boredom rather than exhaustion before you finally reached the bridge. 

Genji seemed to have downplayed the size of the bridge, it was massive going across a river that would have killed you if you tried to get through at the water. White crests hit on rapids and the rushing sound of water roared through the air as you stared down a crystal clear river lined with gray stones. Just beyond the height of the bridge, you could see the field in the distance. The grass whipped around in afternoon winds, the sun seemed to be playing tricks with the shadows of gravemarkers making them look like people hunched over and waiting for the opportunity to attack. 

"It has been a while since I have been here." Genji spoke softly as you reached the end of the bridge leading into the field. He lifted his faceplate to look around, the scars on his face never more prevalent than when the sun was beating down on them. 

"It must make you uneasy." You touched his arm and he turned to stare down at you with glossy eyes before he threw his arm over your shoulders and leaned his head against yours. 

"I am still in the process of becoming a better man, part of that means facing things that may make me sad. I knew many people who were buried here, but I am thankful for their sacrifices as it meant I have been able to survive to once again reunite with my brother, and to meet you." He rustled your hair before taking a long final look at the grass again and bringing his faceplate down over his eyes. "Perhaps on the way back we will stop and place flowers on their graves to honor them." 

"That would be nice." You smiled, for coming from a line of assassins, Genji was a gentle soul- you couldn't imagine him fighting in horrific battles or chasing down omnics across the forest. 

The road continued through a break in the grass, for such a quiet field it was loud with the sound of plants rustling in wind. Occasionally there were wood posts that stood tall over the grass with signs pointing in the direction of either village in case someone got turned around in the monotony of the high grass, you walked and walked and walked over tiny hills and dips in the road until the grass began to clear and you were once again at the treeline of the forest, this time looking even darker and twisted than the forest outside of the village you came from. 

Genji paused to point down the rocky unused road leading to the left.

"That would be the way that led to King Reyes's castle. It is dangerous and forbidden to head down that way, but even if it wasn't I would never venture back there again." He turned his head to look down at you through the gap at his mask. "Since the fall of Reyes that part of the forest has been overrun by dark magic, creatures have torn wanderers limb from limb and left them bleeding in the roads, monsters have taken refuge where they know they will not be hunted."

"Jesse told me his castle is there being held together by the witch's magic, is that true?" 

"It is. Behind the castle is the mountain where the omnics were being produced, if it falls then nothing would be in their way to unleash an army."

"What about the witch?" You stiched your brows together and held your arms close to you, that uneasy feeling was starting in your stomach again.

"I... do not know what happened to her." Genji sounded frustrated. "King Reyes and King Morrison were fighting, Jes- McCree and I were going to intervene but she sealed the doors. We could hear Morrison killing him and the witch, she stood there stopping us from helping him. We knew we needed to get out of there, we ran and left everything behind. I left behind a picture of my brother and I that I miss often. We made it to the grass fields before Morrison's soldiers caught up to us and we were outnumbered. They considered us traitors, and to make it worse the first wave of the omnic army was closing in. We were going to be slaughtered, but then the _witch_ came. She led some of us to safety, I remember as we were running she was arguing with McCree and then-"

You stopped and grabbed his arm, Genji was breathing heavily just remembering that night and the last thing you needed was your escort to lose his cool. He paused to think of his words carefully before nodded his head with quick movements to tell you he was okay.

"I am not sure what happened after we were back in the forest." His voice was small. "One moment I was running, the next moment I was being awoken by- I do not know how I lost consciousness, but I do know McCree was nowhere in sight and I could hear a battle at the village. The last I saw of the witch was before I lost my memory, when she was speaking to McCree. The next time I saw him he was missing half of his arm and he refused to answer my questions, I have not trusted him since that night and of course, no one in the village wants to believe their savior may not be who they think he is." 

"I see." You breathed out. Your tired legs were shaking as you were nearing the small town, that sinking feeling sat like a stone in your body reminding you that you'd given yourself over to Jesse without much consideration to Genji's warning. Someone was lying to you, somewhere you weren't getting the whole truth and the first chance you got you'd be mapping out every detail you'd been told on the inside of your journal.

"I hope you never cross that redheaded witch." Genji snarled from beneath his mask. "She has brought nothing but pain and fighting." 

Your heart hurt. You wanted to ask more but the pain in his voice stopped you, the history he had with his team wasn't your business to pry in and you spent a good while afterward walking in settled silence. 

Heading down the path to the right led you straight to a small village, right against the road was the largest building out of them all, a massive stable where a handful of people were out front repairing a mud covered carriage. Genji led you past the stables back down through a road that ended in a roundabout where homes and shops lined along the outskirts. You stood outside as he spoke to someone who greeted him by name and you stared up at the treeline wondering how far that old castle would be. 

"They do not think they will be able to take us until morning, one of their horses was attacked last night. Are you comfortable staying here until dawn?" Genji asked with his head popped through a crack in the door. 

"Of course, whatever we need to do." You turned to look at him over your shoulder. 

He disappeared back into the room and you turned to look at the stables. It appeared to be far more than the horse that was attacked, the carriage being repaired looked like it had taken on more than just the usual damage of travel. While Genji was still inside, curiosity got the better of you and you wandered over to the team around it who looked at you through the corners of their eyes.

"It looks like you were attacked by something terrible, I hope everyone's alright." You stared down at the bent wheel well that one person was trying to pull in the right direction. 

"We're fine." They grunted, finally getting the piece to move into the right place. "Physically, that is. Still don't know what exactly it was that came after us, all we know is it spooked the horse bad enough to start running into the trees. We went chasing after him scared out of our minds trying to get away from the monster and everyone was okay but when we got back we realized it ravaged all our food. Now we're going to have to head back to the King's village to get more supplies and everyone's going to have to live off dried meat and the last drops of milk we have for a while." 

"You couldn't tell what kind of monster it was?" Attacking a cart for food sounded like the desperation of a human, not a bloodthirsty monster. 

"Whatever it was, it was wearing the skull of another animal and had claws that could rip through pure metal." 

Genji called your name from across the road, beckoning you over to the outside of a tiny inn where he held out a key. 

"I got us a place to stay for the night." He lifted his mask and smiled at you. "Your room will be the last one in the hall on the right, I will be right across from you if you need anything." 

It was a small inn, only five rooms from the doors you could count after you walked past a small sitting area at the entrance. The rooms were nothing special, simple bedrooms just slightly bigger than a pantry with little more than a single bed to sleep on and a nightstand topped with an oil lamp. You set your bag down beneath a window overlooking the street and stared out to the obscured stable where you could hear workers shouting orders across the way. The sun would be setting in only a few hours, you'd be off to bed then waking up for another treck across the land, but that uneasy feeling was still fluttering in your core. 

That night you split dinner with Genji as you sat together in the entrance of the inn. Kind people from the town popped in to greet you knowing they'd be joining you on your journey in the morning, they would need to take multiple carriages to make up for the destroyed one losing all the provisions it did. You excused yourself early in the evening and made your way to your room to start writing everything you could remember about what he'd told you. 

You may be affected by an unknown curse, but that didn't stop you from being curious. You wrote long into the night trying to connect lies or half-truths between what you'd heard, long enough that the oil on your lamp ran out and you were squinting in the moonlight coming through the window. You cracked it open just enough to let in the chill of night, it seemed like the whole village was asleep and not a single noise sounded through the streets. 

You found yourself tapping your pen to the paper, stuck on the idea of the castle being just at the other end of the fork in the road. 

You couldn't sleep.

That feeling in your stomach wanted you to go to the castle, it told you to get there at any cost. 

Thinking of the castle made your heart race, you knew Genji would never take you to it- but maybe you could get just close enough to get a peek at what it looked like. You knew how to sneak around without being caught, you once escaped a grand library after triggering an alarm and you weren't even seen. You once snuck out of a town on the border of two countries with nothing more than your journal and an undershirt after being caught in a royal's bed. You convinced yourself you could make it down the road and back through the trees if you were careful enough.

The last thing you wanted Genji to do was worry where you were, as silently as you could you locked your door and pushed open the window wide enough that you'd be able to crawl through. With your shawl wrapped over your shoulders and journal tucked close to your side, you stared at the door in a brief moment of guilt before climbing out. 

_You'll be fine._ You'll be back in bed before anyone could even know you'd left the village. Dirt crunched beneath your shoes as you quickened your pace away from the dark town, your arms crossed close to your chest to keep in the warmth beneath your shawl and you glanced over your shoulder far more than a few times as a strange sense of paranoia sank in. You knew you should turn around, you knew you shouldn't be alone, but you had to know, you just had to _see_ the castle.

Actually out in the moonlight, quickly walking down the very road you came in on you were struck all at once by how tired your legs were. Every step burned but you let the cool air keep you going until you reached the fork. 

It hit you just how stupid it was to go out with a lamp, once you reached the split you were faced with dead twisted trees that let in only very few beams from above to light the way. You stood there, hesitantly listening for any sounds of monsters or animals ready to eat you if you stepped foot that way. You were already thinking of excuses, copouts if you got caught by Genji for sneaking away or if the villagers asked where you were going so late at night. 

You could blame it on the curse, you could say that you were driven there by unseeable forces and not just your morbid curiosity. 

You could say it was the curse, but the deeper you got into the forest the more you realized you didn't want to be there. 

Branches would break in the distance, wind would rush through the trees, your once confident strides quickly slowed to shaking steps over fallen branches that looked like deadly snakes in the shadows or rocks which made the ground appear hollow. Fear began seeping in as you weren't sure if the darkness you were seeing was true night or the effects of a curse threatening to make you leave.

Distant thunder was rumbling through the skies sending your heart into your throat with every roll. How long had you been wandering? Your eyes were panicked as they looked to the sky. Surely the moon had been on the other side of those stars- you gasped and got turned around, there was no way you had been out there for _that_ long. 

That tree, it looked familiar, maybe you were walking in circles. But the path didn't seem to bend that way before, your feet were stumbling, was this still the road? You couldn't see anything, it was dark, you were squeezing your eyes shut. 

Shit.

This was a terrible idea.

You clutched at your journal, body curling in on itself as you slid against a tree and brought your knees to your chest. You needed daylight, you didn't even know what direction you were going in anymore, the moonlight had disappeared and you were left in the deafening silence of a black forest, completely alone and completely afraid with no one to blame but yourself. Suddenly the humiliation of Genji finding you alone in the woods seemed like the least of your worries as the sounds of curious animals snuck up in the darkness, you tried to stay as still as possible, tried to silence your breathing enough that you wouldn't be detected by scent. 

Then you heard the whirr of machinery, robotic steps and chirps of an omnic scaring away something that growled back after it thudded heavily when being hit. You slapped a hand over your mouth to stop any whines of fear from escaping, you could feel yourself shaking as you waited with eyes searching the mysterious shapes of the trees around you for any sign that you'd be the next to be thrown across the forest floor. The robotic noises silenced with the sound of something powering off and you stayed frozen in place, you couldn't tell what direction it was coming from, you could see anything, not even your hand in front of you. 

Your only option was to run blindly or wait it out. 

Succumbing to fear, you wrapped your shawl as tightly around you as you could and felt around in the dirt until you could pull leaves and branches over yourself to hide behind. At first light you would run straight for the village, you'd get back on the road and never look behind you- not even the castle could tempt you back into this part of the forest again. 

* * *

Morning. Birds around you were waking and chirping their morning songs, the sun was still rising and the sky was a dull purple between the thick branches. You were still in one piece, that much you were thankful for, but there were heavy clouds swirling above threatening a storm. You stood and dusted yourself off, your clothes were filthy from wandering around in the dark and sleeping in the dirt. With dim light finally spreading across the forest floor you could see you'd lost the trail and ended up in a small clearing that trailed down over a hill, had you walked even a few more steps in the dark you would have tumbled forward and been unable to catch yourself before falling into thorny bushes. 

Far off on the hill you could hear the beeping of omnics, their noises sounded joyous and cheerful. You almost thought you heard them _laughing_ \- omnics don't laugh, do they?

You followed the noise, careful not to step on any branches to alert them of your presence. As gently as you could, you curled around a tree to look into a leaf covered outcropping towards the robotic chortles. There were two, one rather blocky looking one overgrown with moss and mushrooms, the other a large four legged omnic that clearly had administered repairs on itself by replacing metal panels with tree trunks. They seemed to be playing with a bright yellow songbird, it was fluttering between them as the one sporting four legs jumped and chased it around. You stared in disbelief, you knew what omnics were capable of and these ones in particular were ones you'd seen used in other wars- they were killing machines and here they were acting like schoolchildren.

 _No one would ever believe this._ You slowly reached for your journal and slid it from your pocket intent on writing exactly what you saw, the idea of two omnics living together in the forest and doing anything other than destroying it seemed absolutely insane and yet so incredibly sweet, you had to share this with the world. Not wanting to disturb them, you crouched behind the tree only peeking at them between moments of laughter. Occasionally they would stop and you would hear long messages back and forth in a robotic tongue you couldn't understand. The blocky omnic seemed stuck to the ground, it sat with one leg detached and a heavy bird nest on its shoulder.

You were so busy writing down the strangest sight that you didn't hear the pitter patter of paws sneaking up behind you. The two omnics snapped their heads in your direction at the sound of growling that made you jump from the bushes and stumble into the fern covered clearing. Immedtiyl the two omnics lifted their weapons towards you, their massive guns pointed directly at your body until a pack of wolves came into sight and you fell to the ground knowing there going to unleash as many bullets as it would take to remove the threat. 

Your hands covered your ears and the four legged robot leaped over your body towards the wolves, instead of shooting them it blocked attempted jumps and threw them in the opposite direction. You lifted your head and stared at the other omnic, helplessly sitting there as it tried frantically to screw in a bolt at its leg that its fingers were far too bulky to tighten. It caught you staring, paused at the sight of you looking with your mouth hanging open. Behind you, the other was successfully fighting off wolves and you pushed yourself to your feet before raising your hands in the air in an attempt to show the sitting omnic that you meant no harm. 

It flinched as you walked towards it, but it did not raise its gun.

As you neared, the yellow bird landed at its shoulder and cocked its head as it looked you. Moving slowly, you kelt next to the omnic and purposefully kept your hands in its line of sight as you lowered them to its leg. 

"Can I help you?" You asked through shaking breaths. 

It chirped happily and shifted to show you where its leg had disconnected from its hip. Wires still moved from the body into the metal limb, but the heavy armored section laid to rest on the ground next to loose bolts that would take a small tool, or human sized hands, to screw back in. It watched you intently as you positioned the bolts back in place and began to turn them, tightening until you couldn't anymore. A bit of defeat sank in as you realized it would take more than just your handiwork to keep the leg attached, knowing it would need a bit of extra help, you grabbed at the edge of your shawl and stared down considering if you were actually going to do something drastic to help an omnic, the thought was fleeting as you ripped from the bottom creating one long ribbon. You twisted and tied it through all the intricate bits of metal connecting the two pieces of its body, helping to stabilize it just in case the bolts were to come loose again. 

The omnic beeped back in excitement and you turned just in time to see the other standing at your side having fought off the dogs just as they had the night before. You stumbled back as the omnic stood and shook the ground testing out your fix before spinning while it chimed out a simple tune. 

A happy robotic voice attempted to speak to you, the four legged omnic clearly was trying to speak your language but their voice modulator was failing. It reached for its shoulder, brushing away a mess of leaves to show you a section of the plate that once read 'OR15' but had been scratched out and crudely written beneath it 'ORISA'. You nodded and looked to the other omnic who turned to the side to show you its inscription, 'SST Laboratories Siege Automaton E54'. You looked to it with pause and a half smile trying to figure out which name to call it when Orisa chuckled and through her broken voice was able to speak its name.

"Bastion." 

"It's nice to meet you Bastion and Orisa." You smile as you turned to the large omnics. "Thank you for saving me. I'm sorry if I scared you, I've- I've never seen omnics act the way either of you do."

Thunder. 

The booming from the sky made each of you look to the dark clouds gathering above. 

"I hate to ask this, but is there any way you could show me the way out of the forest? I got lost and I'm a little afraid of being out here on my own." 

Orisa nodded before jumping excitedly on her feet, Bastion seemed happy to tag along to stretch out his newly fixed leg, you almost felt as if you were dreaming as you started following them through the thicket for the dreary forest.

When it started to drizzle, Bastion held his hand over your head in an attempt to cover you from the rain. You thanked him and tried to push away the unsettling feeling of his heavy robotic stops at your side. While you walked the yellow bird would circle Orisa with chirps that would match her pitches, it would fly back to sit on Bastion's hand or to zoom by you and float in the air watching as you waved at it. 

Once you reached the road again it was positively downpouring, your feet were sinking into the mud of the road but you paused to thank the omnics for the kindness one last time before following the direction Orisa pointed you in. 

You ran. You ran, and ran, and ran as fast as you could kicking up mud to your clothes knowing Genji was going to kill you himself the moment you arrived in the village but you would never be happier to see him. The pain in your legs or the heaviness on your chest couldn't stop you as you ran as quickly as you could from twisted mangled trees.

As you ran until it hurt to breathe you began to notice the ruins of walls, walls you hadn't seen on the way in. Destroyed stone walls buried beneath years of forest growth. You slowed as you rounded a corner and almost tripped on yourself upon seeing the grandest castle you'd ever laid your eyes on. You skidded to a stop and stared up at it as rain poured over you obscuring your vision. Maybe it was just the sun breaking through storm clouds, or the black stone and stark red roof tiles, maybe it was the broken tower forever hanging in a magic limbo ready to fall to the ground at any moment, or maybe it was the burned village now overrun with wildlife leading up to it, but something told you this was Reyes's castle. 


	5. A Place To Stay

Rain was soaking into your clothes by the second, the skies above were swirling with dark storm clouds as you stood in a village of ash and hugged your arms around your body staring up at a massive castle. On the uneven ground it was surrounded with a stone wall stretching the perimeter, black vines thorny and twisted curled over it everywhere including the gate except for a section at a corner, the opening looked like it had been chopped away with an axe. It was hard to see through the rain pouring to the dirt, hard to see with your eyes blurring, but you could tell it was big enough for you to get through and you knew you needed to get somewhere with shelter before the mud began to rise with floodwaters pooling in the divots.

With thunder cracking in the sky you rushed beneath the vines, thorns caught at your shoulders and your legs but you forced your way through uncaring of a few holes you'd have to patch up later. The front entrance must have once been extravagant, burned dead tree trunks lined a once cobbled road and now abandoned fountains sat with cracked stone and collecting rainwater. Directly at the front of the castle, you were confronted with how terribly large it was. Looking up, the tallest tower felt like it was lifetimes away where it faded into the darkened sky. The size of the castle dwarfed it you, making you feel like nothing more than a gnat appearing at someone's doorstep. 

You rubbed the water from your eyes and reached for the handles. Massive wood doors arched above you, with rain blurring your vision you could barely make out the carved symbol that met in the middle- it seemed to be the emblem of the former king, the skull of a steed with downset eyes with wide circles surrounding it, an intricate iron decorative sword slit down the middle made up the heavy handles attached at the center of the skull. At one point the doors must have been painted, but time and weather wore it away leaving the symbol a withered unkempt home.

You hesitated there with your hand on the door, it felt rude not to knock but it seemed silly to announce yourself to an abandoned castle. Half expecting the doors to not even open, you pulled at the handles with all your weight, groaning as it squeaked on old hinges. You stepped in, dragging the door behind you to stop the rain from pouring in and you gave your eyes a moment to adjust to the darkness. As the doors closed behind you with an echoing thud, it's sound sent panic straight to your heart as it was followed with quick footsteps running across a stone floor, only for them to stop abruptly without you able to tell where they came from. 

It felt like the wind was knocked out of you. 

_This_ was not a castle left abandoned for almost a decade. Oil lamps lit columns that stretched to a tall ceiling, marbled floors shined clean with not even a spot of dust to be seen, down the center a long black carpet led to a staircase where rails curled at the end with broken statues that had been repaired with red grout. 

“Hello?” You gasped out, your voice reverberated off the walls, echoing deep into the massive castle. 

Whispers. Whispers that made the hair at the back of your neck stand at attention, whispers you could hear over the rain pounding at the windows. You knew those whispers. Those whispers were just out of earshot as black clouds overtook the village, they were the whispers you'd heard in your mind before fainting. 

“Is there anyone here?” You called out, voice shaking. “I’m sorry to intrude, its raining and I got lost, I- I just need somewhere to stay before the storm passes!” 

More whispering, it even sounded like they were having a hushed argument. No longer did you feel like you were taking shelter, it felt like you were intruding in someone’s home and ruining their carpet the longer you stood there shivering in wet clothes with mud up to your knees. You slowly stepped forward towards the voices, straining to hear the words. A woman tsked before her sighing voice whispered against the walls again, they were close but you couldn’t see anyone around. 

_“Oh, Siebren, look at the poor thing. Have a heart.”_

_“As if you are one to speak, Amélie!”_ A second voice responded in annoyance. _“Do you wish to bring his rage down upon us? We can not let in every stranger that wanders into the forest-”_

_“He does not have to know-”_

“Hello? I can hear you.” You called out, searching the shadows against the walls as you continued down the carpet path towards the stairs. “I mean you no harm, just needed somewhere to get dry.” 

A figure appeared peeking from the other side of a far column near the stairs, you first took notice to long dark hair that fell to the side before you saw hesitant hands curled at the edge and dark yellow eyes that glimmered from the lamplight. Seeing the source of the voice so suddenly made you pause, your body froze as if you’d been caught there unknowingly. 

“Come here,” The woman stepped out, arms open with an invitation to greet you. It must have been the light, but her skin looked almost purple. “Of course you are welcome-”

“Now you’ve done it, Amélie-” A man hurried out from a column across the room to her and pushed her arms down. He towered over her, not only from his size but he seemed to be floating just off the floor. Your eyes darted all over him unsure if you should stare at how he seemed to levitate, or at the blue dome at his head where his brain should have been which looked as if it had an entire star system inside. “No, she should be on her way, far from us and far from _you know who_.” 

“That old fool is busy sulking in his room as always, he would not even know.” The woman, Amélie, glared up at the man as she roughly pushed past him towards you. Your heart jumped as she neared, her approach was sizing you up with the intensity of a wild animal before her face softened and she held out her hands once more. “Poor thing, you are soaked to the bone. Come, warm yourself by the fire, we will give you something to change into that is not covered in filth.” 

“Thank you.” You breathed out with relief thankful for anything that would help you after the situation you'd put yourself in. 

She seemed sweet enough, but there was something off. You couldn't put your finger on it, but after hearing the way Genji and Hanzo spoke of their own experience, you chewed at the inside of your cheek and wondered if they must have been cursed, or at least affected secondhand like you were. Perhaps it was naivety or far too much trust in the kindness of strangers, but you placed your palm in hers and let out a shaking breath as she began to lead you down a dimly lit hall to the side of the main stairs. Cursed or not, at the very least you weren't alone in a forest or being rained on for the time being.

The man stayed behind sputtering for a moment before finally deciding to follow as he spouted off in angered whispers. You looked behind, unsure how to address him. 

“No, I demand that you stop where you are. This is no place for someone like you to be!”

“Forgive him, Siebren can be very nervous about new faces.” She said to you with a half smile, her head tilted your way and the ends of her hair brushing against your arm. “I, for one, am quite fond of finally having a guest to entertain.” 

She took you down lavish corridors until you could see the orange light of a fire spilling into the hall. As you got closer you could feel the warmth, the biting cold of wet clothes stuck to your skin slowly easing until you turned to a large sitting room where a fireplace twice your size burned brightly. Amélie demanded beneath her breath to Siebren that he get you something to wear so you weren’t drying the mud into your clothes.

You stood at the door fidgeting with your journal beneath your shawl as she moved a chair close to the fire and pushed a footrest beside it with a quilt folded on top. Her skin truly was purple, but you felt it best not to pry into her business when she was opening her home to you. Happily ignoring your wondering stares she asked your name, asked if you were hurt while you were wandering out in the woods and she laughed when you confirmed a pair of robots pointed you to the direction of the castle. Before she was done setting things in place, Siebren returned with an armful of clothes. 

“Get changed and leave your things by the door, we can wash them if you like.” Amélie smiled, but there was something so inherently sad and empty behind it. “Have you eaten? Or maybe you would prefer something to drink-”

“Amélie.” Siebren harshly whispered. “That is enough. We have done more than we should have already, if he finds out we’ve given away the food he worked so hard to get-” He paused with his lips tightly pursed together and turned intense eyes to you. “Pardon us.” 

He grabbed her by the arm and they seemed to exchange some sort of heated whispers between them before they disappeared around the corner into the dark of the hall. When the silence settled and you were left in a warm room surrounded by walls of old weapons and staring at a pile of clothes Siebren had pushed to your chest, you were unsettled. There was a gut feeling that told you to run, to brave the rain and withstand the cold to get back to Genji, but there was a comfort about being there that was far stronger than just the heat from the flames. The nervousness that rested in your core while you were in the village, the fear of the black clouds closing in on you again were at ease. 

Not wanting to disturb them any further, you closed the door as gently as you could before pulling off your damp clothes. You checked your journal, ensuring the pages hadn’t been soaked through and thankfully it remained dry.

Stripped down and standing so near to the fire that you were sure it would burn your skin, you looked through the rather interesting choices of garb Siebren had brought back for you. There was a set of plaid pajamas, so large they would have had you swimming in them, you figured they must have belonged to him based on the size. You pushed the pajamas to the side and looked at options for shirts, either a black peasant shirt with one sleeve missing, it looked almost as if it had been torn off, or a white flowing button up. The pattern of strange clothes continued as you realized your only other option beside pajama pants were powdery blue pants that buttoned high at the waist.

Beggars can't be choosers.

You felt ridiculous as you stood there in a massive shirt, you tried to give it some shape by tucking it but paired with such brightly colored pants it was a lost cause, but at the very least they were dry. 

As you settled down on the chair you fluffed at your hair, no longer feeling it dripping to the floor it was finally beginning to dry once more. You stared into the fireplace, eyes tracing an iron wood holder burned from years of use. The flames were hard to stare at, you could close your eyes for just a moment and be fine. A chair had never before felt so comfortable, you'd never felt cozier than you were beneath the quilt of a stranger with your exhausted legs curled against your body and the crackling of the fire lulling you to sleep.

You could still hear the distance rumbling of thunder even though the castle walls, you were almost sure you were dreaming the sound of rain until you began hearing footsteps approaching once more. They weren't Amélie's, you could tell that from the stomping, and it sounded like there was more than one person as you realized one of the sounds was metal tapping against the floor. The footsteps abruptly stopped just outside the door you'd shut, you clutched your journal and held it close to you as you listened to the doorknob turning quietly and the door being pushed open as gently as possible.

Unsure if it was Siebren on his feet coming to check back in on you, you peeked around from your seat and found a man looking in with a curious expression. There was a moment of panic where you thought you may have been in danger as you realized just behind him an omnic was leaned over him looking in as well, but they seemed more shocked to see you than you to see them. The man who opened the door lifted his brows in surprise as you locked eyes with him, wrinkles lifted to his bald head and your gaze darted down to an oversized omnic arm connected at his shoulder. 

You were going to ask him what was going on but he quickly slammed the door closed leaving you lost in confusion. Then his voice came from the other side, clearly attempting to be hushed as he spoke to the omnic with him.

"Do we tell Reaper they've brought in a stranger?" The man rushed to speak. 

"Perhaps we let this play out on its own." The omnic voice returned before the door opened once again. You snapped to look, now faced with an almost human like omnic- save for the clearly omnic face. He stared in as you were too awestruck to say anything before closing the door and leaving you to wonder why there were so many people in an abandoned castle and what they could possibly be doing there. "We must give this a chance if Amélie believes it." 

Their voices began to fade down the hall, only once they were gone did you find your confidence to throw the quilt from your legs and run for the door. You swung it open and popped your head into the hall looking each direction before closing your eyes to follow your gut hoping to find where everyone had gone. Your heart was racing, humans and omnics living together, people with strange things happening to them, you were positive they were cursed and something deep in your gut told you they must have had something to do with the things you were seeing and the fear that would strike you at the worst times. 

There was a story here.

With your journal tucked in your waistband at your back, you clung to walls following corridors until you began to hear voices all talking over one another. They hadn't bothered to light all the candles or the oil lamps that lined the halls, this left you with long stretches of darkness that would make your palms sweat just thinking about what could be lurking. You were sneaking around on your tippytoes, careful with floorboards that sounded beneath your step and tapestries that would shift against the wall as you passed by.

You followed the voices until dull lighting poured toward you at the end of the hall, large doors were left wide open looking into a massive enclosed greenhouse. From the distance you were at, you could see vibrant vines lining the windows. A majority of the greenhouse was lush with all types of fruits, vegetables and herbs, you could smell some of them even from where you were.

Hard rain was threatening at the glass along with flashes of lightning and a group of people were gathered around a towering plant enclosed beneath a dome of glass in the center of the greenhouse. You stayed out of sight in the hall, pressed against the darkness just close enough so you could listen to them and gawk at bright green petals curled around themselves, a massive flower taller than some of the people standing around it, not yet bloomed yet was being protected so heavily. Everyone seemed to be staring at small purple lights fluttering away from it as voices continued to argue amongst themselves. 

"It has never done this before, it must be a sign." Amélie spoke to one of them.

"That's the problem, we have no idea if this means we're out of time and it's about to bloom, or if this means she's the one-" Another woman was speaking to Amélie, she stood much shorter and had her hair tossed to one side with half of it shaved and bright purple veins curling at her skull. "I know you don't want to hear it, but it's too late. Look at how he's been acting." 

"There is still something human in him." Amélie responded, her hand curled over her chest. Her brows furrowed, lips lifted in bitter anger. "Just like there is still human in me, Olivia." 

"That's not what I was implying-" 

"It has been seven years already Amélie." Siebren butted in as he placed a hand on her shoulder. "We can not rely on a stranger, we can not force her to be here. We can not make her do what needs to be done, you know well enough that can not be controlled." 

"At the very least, I refuse to send her back out through the woods until the storm passes." She jerked her shoulder away, crossing her arms at her chest and stared at the flower. 

Turned away, her voice became softer and you strained to hear it. You leaned toward the greenhouse, eyes fixated on the omnic you'd seen before who appeared to be doing some sort of calculations in a notebook. Wrapped up in their conversations you felt too comfortable standing there in the darkness and hadn't turned to check down the hall. Instead, you blindly reached for your journal and flipped open to the first blank page you could to frantically scribble notes about their conversation, you could feel yourself breathing heavier as you hurried in an attempt to be as quick as possible. 

Just as you were finishing a barely readable sentence, a cold shiver prickled across your skin. It was that deeply creepy feeling of being watched and not knowing whose eyes were on you, that unsettling in your stomach that flipped it around in a panic telling you that someone was far too close. It was only as you paused with your pen pressing deep into the pages on a comma that you knew you felt body heat of someone directly at your back and an annoyed sigh growled out at your ear. 

You opened your mouth to scream, to gasp, to do anything, but a horrific hand curled at your face forcing you into silence with a tight grip and painfully sharp metal claws threatening at the skin along your cheek and jaw. A second arm ripped away your journal as they kept you in place. 

"Who are you?" A deep voice rumbled with shaking anger. His voice was muffled by something, a mask you guessed. The hand over your mouth clamped down harder, ends of claws almost breaking skin, you couldn't answer even if you weren't scared speechless. He was grinding his teeth together before raising his voice once more. "What are you doing in my home?" 

You watched faces of those gathered around the flower snap in your direction upon his shouting. Siebren's eyes grew wide with fear and he was the first to rush toward you with a pleading beg. 

"Reaper, no! I told them not to bring her here, I warned them you do not like strangers-" 

"She just needed a place to stay!" Amélie cried running behind Siebren. 

"A place to stay?!" The man, Reaper, roared behind you. The pure anger in his voice brought tears to your eyes, you could see the fear on their faces. He lifted your journal between pinched claws, showing it to the small group watching you struggle in his grip. "Oh, I'll give her a place to stay! Look at this, she thinks we're freaks! She didn't want a place to stay, she sought it out to write these- these _things_ about us." 

He threw the journal at Siebren, hitting him in the stomach and forcing a pained groan from the man. Reaper's hand dropped from your mouth to your waist, there was magic sealing your lips, a burning in the shape of his handprint over the lower half of your face that left behind would you could only describe as smoldering ash preventing you from opening your mouth. You tried to scream from beneath it as he lifted you in an effortless swoop, tossing your body over his shoulder so quickly that it made blood rush to your head and left you spinning. You could hear them yelling out for you, but no one seemed to move in an attempt to save you. 

You cried in desperation as you beat your fists at his back and tried to thrash your legs around, his hold on you was so strong despite not having any binds at your ankles or legs. 

"Keep it up and I will drag you down the stairs by your ankles." He threatened with a growl over his shoulder. 

You curled your hands into the fabric of his cloak, black and tattered all you could do was silently cry as what you could only assume was the master of the castle carried up further and further away from the kindness of those who'd set you up in front of a fireplace.

But hey, at least your clothes were dry. 

You tried to look around at the walls to memorize where you were so you could remember how to escape at the first chance you got. You wondered if Genji had gone searching for you, if he was frantically fearing you'd wandered into the woods only to return as a skeleton floating from the river to the sea. Tears fell to the stone stairs beneath you as your body bounced with Reaper's steps and his hand tightened at the backs of your thighs, you were going to just be another statistic, another story that mothers tell their children late at night to scare them into never leaving the village. 

He grunted as you heard him clinking metal together and he carelessly adjusted you on his shoulder. With your head still feeling light, movement made you dizzy when he grabbed at you and tossed you down to a cold hard floor on nothing more than a thin mattress of straw and a small window at the tallest point of the wall looking out to the storm. After you landed and groaned from the pain you looked up to your captor seeing him clearly for the first time. 

If he was a man, you couldn't know. He did wear a mask, a white one almost similar to the one from the castle door but there was something much more sinister about it. It had been cracked and repaired, scratched and stained with blood but it was still in better condition than the man's cloak. With a hood over his head and the back reaching almost the floor, you could see he'd been crossing through the vines at the entrance enough times to have ripped several large holes in it that had been patched up while others remained untouched left to rip wider. The seems at the end were frayed, the metal that made up his claws and his boots dented and dulled from years of use. He looked like he belonged in an army, not guarding a cursed castle. 

"You will stay here and rot until I've decided what to do with you." He warned as he slammed a heavy door closed.

You were in darkness, the only light coming from the dull sky in the high window. You gasped beneath the blinding at your mouth as a small section of the door slid open allowing him to look in on you. The thunder outside seemed louder as it shook the floor you sat on, you stared up to empty black eyes of his mask before he darkly chuckled and snapped the opening shut leaving you to the sound of heavy rain and your regrets of ever wanting to find the castle in the first place. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bit of a shorter chapter for this one before we get into the really good bits ( ✧≖ ͜ʖ≖) thanks for being patient with me! ♡♡♡


	6. Tonight You'll Prop Your Feet Up

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long delay between chapters, had a crazy week! Please enjoy! (˵ ͡~ ͜ʖ ͡°˵)ﾉ⌒♡*:･。.

“Psst.” 

Oh, it was dark already.

The blur of the day left you with nothing to do but lay against the straw mattress and put your troubled mind to sleep after staring at stone walls for far too long. The fear of knowing Genji may have been out in the forest searching for you crushed your heart, you hoped he wouldn't blame himself for losing you, that he wouldn't be sick to his stomach at the thought of a dark curse affecting you so terribly that you ran from someone who only wanted to help. You knew he was the type of man who would stay true to a mission until the very end, he was a fighter, a soldier, not someone who would just leave missions behind. Part of you wondered if he would think to go to the castle, if he would ever actually be willing to step back in the forest that caused a brutal scene which haunted him.

You groaned as you woke to the voice at the door. You couldn't worry about Genji, not when you were waking on the floor of a prison cell to whispering from an unseen captor.

The rain had stopped, moonlight now softly lit your new prison. At the door a pair of eyes stared down at you through the open slot, wide and filled with worry. Your heart was beating your throat fearing the unknown. You were angry and terrified like a wild animal trapped in a cage. Angry that the people who let you into their home did nothing for you to stop you from being hauled away, angry with the man who threw you over his shoulder and carried you to an inescapable room, angrier even more so that you waltzed right into the situation of your own accord.

You scrambled away from the door wondering what other dangers they had in store for you next. 

“I understand you must feel quite afraid right now.” Siebren, the man with the galaxy in his head shifted behind your prison door. “I’d like to apologize for his behavior, Reaper is… unusually out of sorts at the appearance of uninvited guests.” 

You tried to open your mouth to retort that it was fairly obvious he wasn’t a fan of strangers, but magic still bound your lips together. Frustrated, you let out an angry groan and touched your fingertips to the black handprint still covering the lower half of your face. 

“Right!” Siebren exclaimed before you heard the clattering of keys and the door unlocking. 

You shot to your feet ready to bulldoze past him, only to stop as you saw others from the greenhouse gathered out in the hall as well. They all seemed to be looking in at you, curious of the wanderer their master trapped behind bolted doors. You retreated into yourself, holding your arms at your elbows close to your body as you concluded it was a longshot already that you could shoulder your way past the massive man with the galaxy brain. You knew your limits. It wasn’t the right time to put up a fight, not with a small army of people there who could stop you before you would even get out the door.

Siebren stepped in with lifted hands raised toward you, moving to touch your face. You were shaking and flinched as you backed up until you hit a wall, seeing you in such a state caused him to jerk away.

His eyes softened and he knelt before you with his hand out patiently waiting for you to come to him. Siebren seemed gentle, as intimidating as his size was.

"I have no intention of harming you. I can remove the spell he's put on you." He spoke to you almost as if you were a child, but there was something soothing about the way he was restraining himself and giving you the opportunity to approach first.

Still half unsure if he was being true with you or not, you hesitantly stepped towards him. Knelt down his eyes were lower than your face, and his hand waited in the air until you pushed a shaking breath through your nose and moved it close enough to feel the heat of his palm. He gently touched your jaw, tracing over your chin before fingertips pressed to your lips, still afraid and eyes wandering as they watered, your gaze wandered to the door where Amélie was looking in. She watched while blue magic shimmered and erased Reaper's black handprint from your face, you let your jaw fall open and sucked in a sharp breath of dreary straw hazed air.

The anger and fear that once sat heavy in your stomach burst from you now that you were finally able to speak. 

"What the hell is wrong with you people?!" You snapped as you stared at an audience of eyes and grasped at the once magic binding around your face. "With this _place?!_ I just needed to get out of the rain! This entire castle was supposed to be abandoned, no one was supposed to be here, but then I was carried off to some- some, some _dungeon_ by a masked lunatic?!" 

"Please, don't yell, we are trying-" Siebren spoke with hands reaching out in front of him trying to calm you down.

"Give me my journal and let me out of here!" You demanded in a surge of confidence backed by fear. "There are people out there looking for me, I have someone who was waiting for me to return and I know he's not afraid to take a life if it comes to that-!" 

"There is no need to fear us. We do not want to keep you here against your will." Amélie stepped into the room forcing Siebren to curl into himself and step aside. She presented a small folded gift from her arms, your once muddy clothes cleaned and wrapped in weathered twine. "We can take you as far as the gate, but you will be on your own from there."

"Take the road until you reach where four roads meet, if you take the second on the left it'll lead you out of the forest." The woman Amélie was speaking to the day before said from the hall. Olivia, you recalled. You stared back at the group confused and nervous, afraid they would turn right around and hand you over to Reaper.

"Why would _any_ of you help me?" You gripped at the loose fabric of the blouse you borrowed, holding tightly above your heart. 

"Because we know what it's like to be trapped here." The omnic in the back responded bitterly. His unmoving face was turned facing down the hall, refusing to look into the room unlike the others. "Either accept our help or wait until Reaper decides to come back and gut you. It will not affect us in any way." 

"You're trapped?" You asked quietly. "What do you mean?" 

His unwilling apathy to answer brought about a settling shift in the air, the group around you instantly uncomfortable in their own skin. A man with a massive metal arm gripped at his elbow, the woman with the glowing purple veins hugged herself and turned away. Amélie sucked in a sharp breath only to chew at her cheek before finding words to break the silence.

"We never meant to keep you here." She said as Siebren put a gentle hand on her shoulder, standing at her side. "I should have turned you away in the first place, I am sorry for that. We'd all like to help you get out without Reaper's knowledge, but we need to move you quickly before he returns." 

You took your clothes from her and stared down at them with a heavy chest. You had so many questions, so many thoughts and stories swirling in your mind wondering what could have possibly been happening with the people in front of you. Whatever was happening with them needed to be heard, the king needed to know there were people, _maybe he could help them._

Your journal. You needed your journal to write down every detail you could remember about this place. Frantically you began searching through your folded clothes, searching for it only to turn up with nothing as you shook them out in front of you. Just before you were thrown over Reaper's shoulder you recalled him tossing your journal at Siebren, you snapped to look at him with burning eyes.

"Where is it?" Your voice broke. 

"The book?" He seemed hesitant to answer, gaze shifting to the side. "I believe Reaper has it in his office."

You stood there with lifted brows, waiting on him to continue but he closed his mouth tightly and looked to Amélie for help. 

"My dear, there's no time-" Amélie began to gently explain but you dropped your clothes and let out a hard breath through your nose flaring your nostrils. 

"That journal is the only way I'm able to get a paycheck. Those stories are more important to me than any child I'll ever have, more important than my own life. The people who told me some of those stories trusted me to pass their lessons on for generations, one was even an old man's dying wish to be heard that I have not had the chance to share yet." You stared at them knowing if you had to fight for it then you would try your damnedest. "So I need one of you to tell me right now how I can get it." 

"He'll be back soon, but if you're quick we could probably make it." The woman with the purple veins said as she played with magic dust in her hands. Up close you realized her eyes were also purple, they actually glowed with her power and it felt as if her stare was burning right through you. "Follow me, I'll show you the fastest way." 

"Olivia, we should not risk it-" 

Olivia, with the glowing purple eyes, shouldered through and grabbed you at the wrist. She called for Siebren to gather the things you'd dropped and pulled you away from everyone up through echoing stairs and through musty hallways. You could feel something coursing through your veins, it made you feel light on your feet, you felt like you were running without even moving your legs even though you could see your feet stomping beneath you. She held tight to you as she dipped around corners and passed massive doors closed with secrets behind them. Off in the hall voices faded in the distance of the group you'd left behind all trying to convince Olivia to return you.

She seemed to know the ins and outs of every corner in the castle, always with this mischievous grin on her face when she turned to check on you over her shoulder. 

"What did that omnic mean by 'trapped here'?" You asked, taking particular note that although you'd been running you weren't out of breath. 

"Max? Ooh, don't let him hear you call him that." She laughed as she came to slow in front of a door with deep scratches all down the front. "Have you ever heard of the Titanum Curse?" 

"Can't say I've ever really heard of that, no." You whispered back as she worked on listening to the clicks of unlocking the door handle. 

"Well when you get in here there's a little black book with a leather cover, it'll probably be somewhere around your journal. I'd suggest you take that with you." She ran her tongue over her teeth in thought before looking you in the eyes with curiousness. "Best guess, it'll probably be in the top drawer on the left." 

"Wait, why can't you-?" You began to question why she wouldn't just go in an get the journal for you, but as she pushed you in you could see a magic barrier had been set up that stopped even her fingers from getting in the open doorway.

She seemed afraid to even look in and fell off to the side where she could hide out of sight. You turned to look around you, taking in the unsettling room. It was dreary, you could feel the dust in the air floating through moonlit cracks in curtains which hadn't been fully opened in years. A heavy wood desk took up the center of the room, empty bookshelves lined the walls with glass knickknacks and mementos broken on the floor in front of them as if they'd been swiped away in a fit of rage. Across a wall, a painting had been clawed to shreds, from what you could gather it seemed to be a group of five or six people all wearing a similar armor gathered at a throne. 

You circled around the desk, the gold handles on it were dulled and rusted. You pulled each drawer open, one by one searching through them for anywhere your journal could be. Most of the things you found were useless, old logs of money transfers between kingdoms signed by a 'Maximilien', you assumed the same Max. Half written entries in torn pieces of paper, boring notes from a long ago war, but nothing that looked like your journal. 

It wasn't until the final drawer on the bottom that you had hope. Inside was a black box, sealed shut with an iron lock. The box itself was made of wood, you turned it up and over, shook it to make sure you were positive of its contents before you damaged such a pretty carved piece of handiwork. To your credit, you tried to open the lock. You hoped if you pulled hard enough you could be able to force it off, but when it didn't budge you needed to resort to far more drastic measures. When you couldn't get through the lock, you used a rouge nail laying on the floor to pry it at the back where the hinges met the wood.

"Hurry it up, we don't have all night!" Olivia called out to you from behind the door.

"I'm working on it, hold on!" You responded with an exasperated huff. 

With all your might, you managed to pop one side of the hinges off. However, peeking inside only left you with empty desperation. It wasn't your journal, it was the black leather book and you threw your head back in an angered groan. 

"Olivia-" You hissed at the door. "It's not here, all these drawers are empty!" 

"I know of one other place it might be!" She looked in through the crack of the open door, bearing her teeth as she chewed at the corner of her lip. "Sorry, I really thought it'd be in there." 

You rolled your eyes and looked back into the box you'd just forced open for no reason. If you went through all that effort, you were at least going to take the book she mentioned. You forced your fingers through the broken corner and fished around until you could get a grip on it to pull the book through. The fractured wood cut you, scraping against your skin and forcing a sharp gasp to leave you as a splinter buried itself beneath the top of your middle finger. You pulled back and shook your hand as blood began to stain your skin. The book fell out over your feet, you grabbed it before tucking it in at your waistband, hiding it beneath the overflowing fabric of the dress shirt taking extra caution to avoid smearing your blood on the white shirt. 

Olivia waited in the hall with her hand out, expecting your wrist. Not wanting to show her that you'd hurt yourself, you awkwardly held out your off hand, she looked at you unsure why you were acting strange but still curled her fingers at your wrist before sending coursing magic through your veins so you could follow her as she quickly moved. 

You found she was leading you through the main entrance, through the large pillars stretching high into the vaulted ceilings. As you were passing the front door you saw a blur of a group you were passing by, Siebren reached out, grabbing at your collar and ripping you from Olivia's magic. The forced disconnection from her sent you reeling, your mind whipped around as your body pulsed with an overwhelming physical sickness. 

Siebren had this intense shine in his eye, something horrible and pleading in it. 

"You must go. Now." He whispered with words sharp and a hand gripped to your arm. 

"I can't leave without-" You began to beg but the massive front doors swung open with a crashing boom and the shadow of the man with the claws loomed over the entry hall. 

He seemed to pause seeing you there standing before him, you weren't sure if it was confusion or calculation but everyone seemed to freeze. Siebren with his hand on your arm, you holding your arm close to your chest hoping no one noticed dried blood dripped down your wrist. Olivia out of arms reach, face turned to the door but legs ready to bolt down the first hall beneath the stairs. Amélie and the troupe of strangers stood halfway down the stairs, everyone facing the master of the house returning with moonlight pouring in behind him. 

"What is this?" Reaper snarled. "Helping my prisoner? That's treason." 

"We can not be complicit to these types of things any longer, Reaper." Siebren held tight at you refusing to let you run. He was shaking, the fear in his voice told you that much but you could feel him fighting the urge to flee himself. "We are doing the right thing and helping her out of this dreadful forest. She does not belong here." 

"I should kill her just as I have the rest that dared to enter this place." His claws curled around the tops of heavy burlap sacks, they popped with dull ripping sounds.

"If you want to kill the girl then you have to kill me." Amélie said with biting confidence, you looked over your shoulder as she reached for something in her billowy sleeves.

"You will have to get through _both_ of us." Siebren stepped in front of you, a dark magic growing between his hands. Something about his magic scared you, it forced a static in the air, a sense of weightlessness that threatened to lift you where you stood. "Allow her to pass unharmed, Reaper. Give her the life none of us can live." 

"Why would you stand before a stranger?" Reaper growled with fists curled at his side. "For what? Your pride? To feel like you've done something _good?_ There is nothing good left in any of us. That damn witch made sure of it." 

Slowly, steps behind you tapped against the floor. You were surrounded, united with the very people whose home you intruded upon. 

If it takes a village, you guessed this must have been your village. 

"Step aside." The man with the metal arm demanded to Reaper, his oversized hand curling in a threat. 

As terrifying as he was, Reaper seemed to know when he was outnumbered. He moved to a pillar, leaned against it and dropped the sacks to either side before lifting his sharped claws into the air. 

"I see where everyone's loyalty lies." His voice rolled with a darkness that sent a shiver along your spine. "I will let her pass." 

Siebren began to walk forward, you followed at his heels still feeling the metal whiplash of being pulled from Olivia's magic. You felt light headed, flustered even. 

"Wait." You touched Siebren's back, gripping into his shirt stopping him just as you passed in front of Reaper. There was a feeling in your stomach, like you could sense a smirk on his face beneath that horrific bone white mask. _"You_ have my journal." 

"This useless thing?" He gloated as he pulled it from the inside of his cloak. "Don't tell me you won't be able to survive without your silly little book of lies?" 

"Lies? No, these are people's _lives_. Give that back to me." In a moment of blind stupidity, you lurched forward to grab it from his hands. He lifted it high into the air between two claws as Siebren quickly caught you with a strong arm at your waist. "Let go of me, that's mine! You can't have that!" 

"Pathetic. This thing is filled with nonsense, it would be better to start new." Reaper curled around the column, flipping open to a random page and pinching it as if he was going to rip it from the seam. 

"Don't!" You cried as Siebren held you in place. 

"Leave it!" Siebren begged, squeezing you tightly. "Please, you shouldn't be here. No book or journal is worth the price of your life by fighting this monster." 

You stared at Reaper, at the way he waited with two fingers almost tearing at the page. The people he lived with feared him, hated him even, they hid things and spoke beneath their breath. He roamed a massive castle behind a mask and yet he remained this powerhouse that held all control when he entered a room. If he wanted you dead, he would have killed you by now. If wanted to hurt you, he would have hurt you by now. There was something strange about your journal, you could see he'd bent the corners of the more recently worked on pages. In the growing silence of the room settling, you realized he'd marked the pages you'd written on for Genji and Jesse. 

"The door is that way." Reaper reminded you as he snapped the book shut. Siebren felt your body relax and released you, allowing you to stand on your own. 

"I'm not leaving." You shook your head as you stared Reaper right in his endless black eyes. 

"Good riddance-" His angered voice wavered as what you said hit him. "Excuse me? You're not _what?"_

"I'm _not_ leaving without my journal. So either kill me, hand it over, or tell me which room I can stay in." You gestured to the castle walls knowing you were copping an attitude that at any moment could have got you killed, but you were unwilling to walk away from hundreds of stories that would be your livelihood and your legacy to share with the world. It cut to your core, like he was trying to rip away your very soul, and you weren't going to put up with that. 

But there was something there. Something you couldn't quite place your finger on that told you he wouldn't dare lay one of those claws on you. 

"You-" He looked to the group gathered around you, they remained silent with eyes wide and avoiding his waiting for his response. "You can't do that. This is my home, I decide who stays here." 

"And that's my journal, you don't get to keep it." 

"I am not giving it to you."

"Then I'm not going anywhere." 

He seemed shaken that anyone would stand up to him the way you were, you wondered how long it had been since anyone in his castle spoke to him that way. From the chewed lips and averted eyes of your audience, you assumed it was likely years, if ever. 

You held out your hand waiting for him to place your journal in your palm. He seemed to recoil at the sight of dried blood against your skin. 

"I could just kill you, I hope you know. You would never see me coming, I'd strike when the moon is gone and you're asleep-" 

"We have a guest room on the fifth floor!" Amélie's voice chimed in behind you.

You snapped to look at her over your shoulder, catching her sucking in her lips as she stared wide eyed at Reaper then looked to you slowly and unsure.

"That is, of course-" Siebren took over, trying to smooth over Amélie's blurt. You looked once more to Reaper who drew back and shoved your journal back in his cloak. Siebren nervously smiled down at you and placed a gentle hand at your shoulders. "If that is to say, if you wish to stay here under your own free will, you may as well be comfortable. Our guest room on the fifth floor is quite nice."

"A comfortable bed, fireplace-" Amélie looked to you with full eyes, the same eyes you saw the night before when she offered you a place to stay from the rain. "A balcony overlooking the front gardens. Oh, with candlelight _it could be very romantic-"_

"Amélie-" Reaper began to growl a warning just as you spoke. 

"I wouldn't exactly say it's exactly my own free will-" You began only to have Amélie cut you off once more. 

"My room is just down the hall, Max's is right across. Reaper lives by himself, all alone in the west wing so he won't bother you." She turned to him and you watched as her expression dropped and a blade peeked from her sleeve. "Isn't that right?" 

"I just want my journal back-"

"I'm not housing and feeding this absolute stranger-" 

"It's decided!" Amélie joined you, opposite to the side Siebren stood on. "Reaper, until you give this kind woman her journal back she will be staying with us, as such she is our guest and I expect you to treat her with, at the very least, more respect than you treat us with. Now take those sacks down the galley and go back to that depressing little hall you call home so we can show her what Talon hospitality really looks like." 

Amélie turned you, despite your sputtered protests. With her hand pressed to your back you were forced to walk with her quickly up the stairs passing by the shocked faces of the other members. Siebren followed with chuckled disbelief and you turned to see Reaper dumbfounded standing in silence in his own entryway. As soon as you disappeared around a corner and out of ear shot of the master of the house, Siebren floated at Amélie's side and ran a hand over his face with blinking eyes wondering if what he actually saw was true. 

"Amélie, it's been quite some time since I've seen you stand up to him like that!" He exclaimed with a smile.

"I know." She breathed out and chewed at her cheeks. "I could almost feel my heart beating." 


	7. Join Me For Dinner

Amélie and Siebren stood at the door waiting for your reaction as you stared in through a large wood bedroom door. For a guest room, it was particularly cozy and lived in but it hadn't been kept up in quite some time. The wood floors were mostly covered with a rug that sprawled across the room, intricate patterns of deep reds and dark greens crisscrossing until it was hard to tell what you were looking at. To your left, a massive armoire and a coat rack sat waiting for you, against the wall a fireplace with three cushioned chairs set facing it. 

“I will have Akande come in later to help prep for a fire, it has been a while since we’ve had anyone stay here…” Amélie tsked at the fireplace, noting the black soot left behind from whoever had stayed prior. 

Directly across the room was a door to the balcony and tall windows on either side, your view to the sky obstructed by red and yellow stained glass patterned in alternating diamonds leaving an ethereal sight across the carpet as the moon glowed from outside. One of the windows loomed over the bed, strangely enough it had been built into a large wood box jutting from the wall, carved with images of willow leaves and rosy vines climbing the corners. An enclosed bed you could shut in with a heavy faded green curtain would mean it would be easier to keep the heat in on cold winter nights, but you were positive this was only temporary and you wouldn’t have to be here through the seasons. To your right, an enclave surrounded by empty bookshelves and a writing desk against the wall. 

“Is it satisfactory?” Siebren asked after you were quiet for far too long. 

“You are both so kind, of course it is. I only wish he would just give me what is rightfully mine so I wouldn’t have to impose on you like this.” You tried to smile but it felt ingenuine. 

"Believe me, it is nice to have a new face around." Amélie smiled at you, she looked you in the eyes with an expression you weren't sure how to place and took both your hands in hers. You winced as she brushed against a splinter embedded in your finger but tried to hide it as well as you could. "If there is anything you need, do not hesitate to call on us. My door is usually open, if I am not in my room then I will be with Max or Olivia in the gally and the garden. Siebren spends most of his time in our library on the second floor, he is currently cataloging the books we have left. Washrooms are down this hall, through the archway with the gargoyle pillars- you may want to knock before entering as we, all but Reaper, share it." 

You were overwhelmed. Emotions still whipping between the high of finding safety and the low of having your things ripped from you before being tossed in a dungeon. Pain in your hand and the idea of being trapped in a castle with a monster like Reaper had you catching dry sobs in your throat while you tried to stay strong, you felt the black book still tucked at your waist and hoped at the very least you could get some answers there. 

"You seem like you may need some time to adjust." Siebren said as he gently pulled Amélie's hands from you. "Rest if you need to. We generally have breakfast within an hour of the sun rising, but if you are not ready to eat with us please feel free to explore the castle as you will." 

"But do not wander to the west wing." Amélie warned. "Even we are no longer allowed in that section of the castle where Reaper resides." 

"Thank you. Really, I appreciate how kind you all have been." You hugged your arms close to your body, heart still trepidatiously unsure how to feel about them. 

With small nods, they left you to close the door and shut yourself in. It only hit you how insane the entire day had been as you were alone, it was so incredibly stupid to run off from Genji like that, so dangerous to enter a home you didn't know, so short-sighted to choose a material object over your life and risk everything to stay cooped up until you could steal your journal back. 

You spent some time wandering around the room, looking at every corner and opening every door you could. Left in darkness with nothing more than moonlight and an oil lamp, you cozied in between heavy quilts on the bed and pulled the small black book from your waist. Propped up against the pillows and eyes watching the door for any chance of an intruder, you cracked it open to the first page. It started with a frantic mess of handwritten notes, ones you were hardly able to decipher as you squinted. Something about fighting, about betrayals and kings, some paper stained with a burning purple liquid, others with a bright yellow. The further you got the clearer the handwriting became and you were able to comprehend exactly what it was you were looking at. 

A book of curses.

Labeled with dates and sins, the witch who cursed the people of the castle kept a meticulous catalog of exactly what she was planning to do to the people around her should anyone chose to turn their back on her. There were certain things you knew about witches and their awful curses, first being that there must always be a way to break it even if the cost is terrible, second that all curses could have wider unintended effects that even the witch who caused may not have foreseen.

As you were leafing through, you didn't think anything of it when some pages were skipped, paper had been ripped from the bindings leading you directly to the first name you recognized: Siebren. 

"Siebren de Kuiper. My sweet Siebren, you yearn to know everything there is to know under the stars, yet can not see even the simplest things in front of you. Your betrayal of me will not come in the form of malice, rather because you can not ignore orders you are given. For your heinous deeds, I give you the power to know everything. You will see every variant this universe can possibly bring and you will go mad, unable to form the words to speak of it." You read aloud the witch's words and your heart sunk in your chest. His nervousness, his reluctance with helping you made sense now that you knew he had knowledge of things he could never put into words.

Even worse, beneath her curse she scribbled the ingredients she'd put together to make it and what it would take to break his curse. Reading what it would take to free him from his own mind made you sick to your stomach. The orb that replaced his skull, glowing blue and filled with stars, would need to be shattered in order for Siebren to quiet his mind. Should his mind be broken however, he would be left completely unable to see, speak, or hear for the remainder of his natural life. 

You must have reread his page a dozen times. The cruelty of that, for doing nothing more than being complicit in other people's crimes, it seemed to be far too harsh of a punishment. 

A knock at your door startled you and you shoved the book beneath your pillow before running to peek out from a cracked door. The man with the large arm metal arm stood on the other side, face emotionless and wood stacks curled in his grip. 

"Amélie asked me to start a fire for you." He said plainly.

"Right. Akande, I think it was?" 

"That would be me." He shouldered past the door as you stepped aside to allow him in. 

He wasn't much for small talk, mostly he minded his business as he began to clean through some of the soot at the fireplace. You sat at your new bed, legs curled to your chest enchanted by watching him as he worked. Seeing the way he moved with the oversized arm made you wonder how long they each had been dealing with what was ailing them, he seemed to move with it with the grace as if it had been attached at his arm for a lifetime, but there was clearly something magical pulsing through it.

"Oliva tells me you got the witch's book." He mumbled as he stacked some of the heavier wood together. He turned to you with an almost proud smile and you tried to hide the embarrassment of realizing he knew you'd been snooping. "Reaper has kept that old thing locked away for so long, he was convinced it would drive some of us mad. Have you read my pages yet?" 

"I haven't yet, no." You answered honestly as you pulled it out from beneath the pillow. 

"Well, go on then. Let's hear it. I want to know what you think." 

"Oh, well... alright." You quickly flipped through pages until you caught a glimpse of his name and started from the witch's first note. "Akande you thick skulled brute, - I'm so sorry I'm not trying to call you that, those are her words- it seems you’ve become attached to that glorious weapon at your arm. You remain so serious, so hardened by your life that you refuse to show emotion, so selfish. You have never been one to see anything in helping those around you, for that, enjoy your new life attached with the only thing on this earth that could withstand your seriousness for more than a few moments." 

"That witch and I never could get along." He chuckled. "Joke's on her, I don't mind my curse."

"Your curse seems... easy to break." You mused as you read through her notes. "All you need to do is shed a genuine tear of sympathy for another human and you will be free from the binding?" 

"As I said, we didn't exactly see eye to eye. She seemed to believe I am incapable of emotion, but I simply did not enjoy her company." 

So not all curses can be devastating, you needed to write that in your journal when you got the chance. 

As soon as he started the fire, the room seemed to creak and settle to a happy warmth. Akande stepped back to admire his handiwork, he crouched before it to stoke at the flame just enough to ensure it was hot enough before he left for the door. You quietly thanked him, he stopped just before stepping out. 

"A word of advice. Reaper is a bitter angry man, he is dramatic and perpetually angry-" He paused to think before shaking his head, seemingly refusing to let himself speak the rest of his sentence. "Actually, any chance you know how to bake cookies?" 

_"Cookies?"_ You asked, your mind thrown around the room in confusion from the sudden change of subject. 

"Ah, I'm sure there's at least one cookbook left somewhere. Have a good night." He slammed the door behind you with an echo you heard through the halls.

You were left playing through the conversation over and over wondering how he could have come to that question, only to be left with dozens more questions than you had for answers. There in castle walls of your own volition, beneath blankets sewed for visitors from another time, you found yourself staring into a raging fire wondering if you could leave this place at all. You knew you _could_ leave, physically there was nothing stopping you and outside of the vines surrounding the castle and the burned village there were friendly omnics who would fight off wolves and a man desperately searching for you, but your heart was slowly being intertwined with the people roaming the halls. Even if you left, you knew you'd be back, you had to know who they were, you had to know their stories and share their lives so people on the outskirts of the forest wouldn't fear them. 

There was un unsettling in your stomach, you moved to flip through the pages of the book once more but the splinter in your finger shot with pain and instead you stared at the fire wondering what images of wonder you could find within it until your mind drifted to sleep.

* * *

As you blinked awake you found the fire dulled to orange embers and dim morning sun lighting the stained windows. Curiosity of the view outside got the best of you, bracing the chill you opened the latch to the door leading out to a balcony and found yourself breathing in crisp air as purple skies lit low hanging clouds. At first, all you could stare at was the expansive universe above you and the blackbirds soaring above in small fleets cawing to their morning tunes. There was a calm in the air that made you smile to yourself. The sun began to peek over the mountains, brilliant yellow lighting the backs of clouds with rays that spread across and hit the castle in bright columns. As you looked around you realized the balcony must have once been teeming with life, dead rose bushes crawled over the edge of the walls and fell off to the sides, small planters in the corners left behind wilted black trees no longer able to spout spring leaves. 

You leaned against the cold stone wall only to look down at the castle grounds below and find a shadowy figure looming among the destroyed fountains. You watched Reaper in silence as he roamed aimlessly over the dried gardens, his black cloak swung behind him with each step and the metal at the end of his boots clicked against the stone echoing back to the castle walls. He looked like he was patrolling, or searching for something, or like he was just pacing to get his mind off of something- he moved with a sense of purpose that almost made you nervous. 

You could feel it the moment his eyes snapped up to you. His mask was the first thing you could see, the white against a sea of black, but you could feel his gaze ripping through you as you stood at the balcony. 

Unsure if you should greet him, or call down demanding your journal, you watched a large huff of warm air cloud in front of his mask before you turned and ran back into the room fearing he would somehow find his way up the walls and rip your throat open with those metal claws of his. There was a deep seeded fear of him still, perhaps from being thrown over his shoulder and thrown into a dark room for hours left you doubting the good in him, but your heart was racing in your throat as you slammed the door shut to the balcony and sank into one of the chairs in front of the fireplace. 

The longer you stayed in your room the more uncomfortable you became, it felt like Reaper was still watching you, like his hollow black eyes were somehow haunting you. You were getting antsy, you needed to see more of the castle. 

Before leaving your room, you opened the door to look each way in the hallway. It was dark, save for the almost burned out candles lighting near the doors. The room across from you was closed, but you could hear someone inside walking about. The door to your left, Amélie's, was open and the soft sound of her sleeping breaths was driting through to the halls giving you a strange sense of comfort that she could sleep knowing Reaper was lurking around the castle. With no real plan in mind, you quietly shut the door behind you and tiptoed down the hall where she'd pointed out the washrooms. 

You knocked lightly at the arch with the gargoyles, although you did not hear anyone inside. Tentative to step into an unknown room you would stick to corners to look around into new places before you would enter. The washroom was divided in separate sections, the first splitting off to either side leading to sitting areas with plenty of space to hang your clothes while you bathed. Just off those rooms were single closets with rows of toilets so you could at least have some privacy using the restroom, however in the center of a huge room behind the sitting areas was a massive tub almost the size of a pool you once saw in another part of the world where people would swim for sport. The room was floor to ceiling with dark marble and the water that filled the pool steamed with the scent of amber and orchids. 

It was undoubtedly inviting. Hoping no one would bother to bathe so early in the morning, you stripped yourself of the clothes Siebren brought you and folded them near towels left at the side of the pool. 

Nerves melted away as you sunk beneath heated water, finally the layer of grime and cold rain was washing away and you were happy to stretch your toes against the stone at the bottom. You dipped beneath, holding your breath as your hair danced in the water above until you gasped up needing a breath from staying beneath the water for far too long. Half expecting to see someone else to wander through the archway, you stayed soaking in the water until bright orange sunrise beamed through the windows above. 

It was only as you began hearing echoing steps in the hall you jumped from the water and covered yourself, not wanting to get trapped into an awkward situation, you ran into one of the closets and quickly dried yourself before pulling your clothes back over your body. Seems it was back to the flowing oversized shirt and the powder blue pants, after dropping your old clothes in an attempt to grab your journal you weren't sure where the ones you'd been wearing before had gone off to.

It was only as you were passing by sitting room near a floor to ceiling mirror that you realized just how silly you looked in Siebren’s shirt. If you buttoned the sleeves at the wrist you could at least make it look decent, but the falling fabric around your hands and the cascade of ruffles over your chest where you had to tie a string tightly to not reveal your skin almost made you look like a seafaring pirate. It was ridiculous, and for the first time in a couple of days, you actually let out a genuine laugh as you tucked the ends at the waist of the pants. 

Laughing twisted at your core. Your stomach was rumbling. You should have gone to breakfast, but you distracted yourself by slipping back into your room hoping to find anything that would help you remove the tiny piece of wood that was making your finger swell. There was still a bite to the air as morning crept in, you added another log to the fireplace and struck fire hoping to create enough a flame that you could keep warm until daylight warmed the windows. Curled in blankets from the bed, you opened the witch's book once more carefully thumbing through it without moving your injured finger. 

This time you started from the back, the last entry was particularly interesting as you found Amélie's name mentioned but it was different than the other curses.

"Gérard Lacoix, you mastermind of backstabbing, how dare you think you can get away with the things you've done to me? You are one I never thought I would have to write of in this dammed thing. After all my hard work, everything I did to set you up for the life you always dreamed of having. Perhaps you would not like it as much when your love stabs you in the back instead. Amélie will be doomed to suffer because of your actions, you horrible lying man.” Your voice drifted off, fingers touching the pen marks that pushed far too hard into the paper.

Amélie wasn't the one who was cursed, it seemed as if the man she once loved had been and she was simply the unfortunate byproduct to be used in a plot for revenge. Questions still floated through your mind how that would have turned her purple, or slowed her heart, but it appeared the book would not be able to tell you what you wanted to know. 

You ran your fingers over ripped pages against the spine. Pages and pages of the book were missing, some in the middle and a large section in the back. Between scribbles and thoughts for other ingredients on other newer potions, you could the rest of the curses the witch had set up. 

“Olivia, Olivia, where have you gone? It seems you tend to disappear when we need you most, your selfishness keeps you guarding your heart closely. Let’s see how stealthy you can be with veins that shine like the sun.” You read that the purple in her veins was painful with forced magic, it was no wonder she so easily controlled you as you ran at her side but she must have lived a life of immense pain. You flipped through until you found Max's, only for your heart to sink in your chest the more you read of him. “Maximilien you are by far the cruelest, most heartless human I have had the displeasure of meeting. In all my days, no one has ever scared me as much as you have, you must be stopped the moment I see unstoppable evil. You, most of all, must learn what is it like to suffer the fate you wished upon so many unsuspecting omnics.” 

You snapped the book shut. The power it must have taken to transform a human into an omnic, it was almost unimaginable. Her curses were cruel. Clearly the people of this castle had crossed this witch somehow, each of their curses a punishment she saw fit in her own eyes, but you wondered who she was, or worse yet, _where_ she was.

Although you knew you were hungry, you skipped out on having breakfast with strangers that would only lead to awkward silences and stares of wonders. Throughout most of the day, you perused through the book, reading it back and forth until you knew each curse by heart so you could write it in your journal the moment it was in your hands. Of particular note, you found that Reaper was not mentioned anywhere, nor was the 'Titanum Curse' Olivia had mentioned. The one you wished to know most about was missing and your instincts told you those missing pages had the answers. 

* * *

By nightfall, you'd almost burned through all your wood. You'd locked yourself away in your room all day, puttering between the fireplace, bed, and balcony. You were just stoking the fire when you were startled to hear a sudden heavy knocking at your door. There were voices on the other side, hushed ones that sounded encouraging and annoyed, you pressed your ear to the door only to hear Amélie harshly whispering at someone. The voices stopped and another knock came as you gripped at the door handle. 

"Yes?" You asked as you finally timidly opened the door just a crack. You almost stumbled away as you found a white mask looming on the other side, Reaper stood with Amélie and Siebren just off behind him. 

“Join us for dinner.” He grumbled.

"Um-" You recoiled and hid behind the door unsure how to say no without getting thrown in the dungeon again. 

“Honestly, Reaper! I know you haven’t lost all your manners yet, say _please._ ” Siebren scolded out of sight. 

“It is not a request! Dinner will be served in fifteen minutes!” Reaper hissed before turning disappearing to the darkness and you were left in stunned silence.

You poked your head into the hall, catching Siebren with fingers pinched to the bridge of his nose and his back turned to you. If he weren’t floating off the floor you might not have seen Amélie’s feet turned towards the direction Reaper had run off to, they were speaking quietly to each other as they began to follow him, they spoke low trying to keep out of your earshot. 

“You spoke to him, did you not?” Amélie whispered. 

“He realizes it, Amélie. I reminded him that if he is to have a final chance at breaking the curse he must control himself, but he-" Siebren sighed and tapped impatient fingers against the wall. "He does not think anyone is capable of seeing past... well, you've seen what he's hiding beneath that mask. He knows he is difficult to deal with." 

"That temper of his will ruin everything before he even gets a chance." She groaned and pulled at the ends of her hair, fingers nervously braiding it as she thought. "He is still human, Siebren. Perhaps he just needs to be reminded of that." 

"We should invite her to dinner properly." He retorted before you watched as he moved to turn and look at your door. You quickly dipped back into your room, hiding from his eyes but still keeping your ears open as he whispered back to Amélie. "Let's have her sit with us, if he loses control we can protect her. I can speak to him again and try to convince him to do something nice so she can see he is not just this dangerously angry man all the time." 

You hurried to sit at one of the chairs near the fireplace, pretending as if you hadn't been eavesdropping when Amélie appeared at your doorway with a gentle smile.

"Siebren and I would very much like to have you with us at dinner." She held out her hand, offering to lead you to the dining hall. "Reaper will be there, but I promise you do not need to speak with him if you do not wish to. Come, I know you must be practically starving now my dear." 

Against your better judgment, hunger got the better of you as your stomach growled at the thought of food. Following your new friends that you had absolutely no trust in, your eyes wandered the halls the entire way down taking in every faded portrait and hanging tapestry.

The dining hall was a massive room directly beneath the stairs, expansive with floor to ceiling windows on one end, it overlooked a courtyard with a dark pond surrounded with wilting green overgrowth and massive curling trees. When the castle grounds were being maintained you imaged the view would have been immaculate, that you could have sat at those windows and stared out for a full day watching swans and ducks glide across a sparkling lake. You turned to a long table set with places for everyone in the house, it was opulent and far too extravagant for the occasion of a simple dinner, but seeing the effort they put into presenting it nicely made your heart flutter. 

Siebren offered you a seat between him and Amélie, Max and Olivia sat across from you while Akande sat closest to the head of the table where you assumed Reaper would eventually find his way. Amélie disappeared for a few moments before returning with Akande and trays of food beneath platters ready to serve to the small gathering, they invited everyone to serve themselves and even though you felt like a stranger among a family, they made sure you were included in the passing of portions and laughter filled small talk. Everyone began to dig in, filling their plates without Reaper present and for a few moments, you almost thought he would remain absent from the dinner. 

Of course, you weren't that lucky.

Reaper appeared just as you were shoving a full fork of food into your mouth, in his hands he carefully carried a large gold bowl and set it in the center of everyone before gesturing for each person to fill their cups with what he brought to offer. 

"Oh, no." Amélie pushed her fingers to her temple and looked to you apologetically. She scooped a small gold chalice into the liquid, it shined with a dark red that almost looked like old blood before handing it over to you where you took it and raised your brows at her. 

Curious, you lifted the gold cup to your lips.

Your first sip made you gag and almost spit the drink back into the chalice. Trying to hide your disgust, you turned your face away from Reaper who was filling his own cup, and hid your expression against your shoulder. You forced yourself to swallow knowing if you thought about it being against your tongue any longer you would have to cough it out. Truly one of the worst things you drank in your life, you were almost convinced he was trying to poison you as you gagged it down. At first, the taste of coffee hit you, a sensation not far too unpleasant until the consistency of thick syrup hit your throat and you were rushed with the burn of far too much cinnamon. A moment of sobering clarity hit you and you turned back to your plate as your mind rushed, once you were finally able to force it down and you thought for sure that would be the last of it, the drink left an aftertaste of moldy oranges and flowery pomegranate with just a twinge of what you imagined it would have tasted like to lick the bottom of an empty barrel.

Unable to hide how exhaustingly disgusting it was, you covered your mouth and lifted your eyes to meet Siebren who was on the verge of giggles watching your nauseating response. He leaned close to you, hiding his lips at the side of your face. 

“It’s alright, we normally just pour ours in the plants.” He whispered. As you looked around the room you noticed not a single vine or flower was still alive, likely because that drink burned the life out of everything it touched. 

“Does he actually enjoy drinking this?” You asked with eyes darting to Reaper who seemed to have already taken a swig of the drink. You'd missed him lifting his mask to sip from it but in the moment you didn't care, all you could focus on was not cleansing your mouth with everything on your plate. 

“We think he’s lost his sense of taste.” Siebren cringed then jerked the chalice into the dirt of a plant at his side.

You tried to hide a laugh as you held your hands around the chalice. 

"What is so funny?" Reaper's voice boomed over the low voice of everyone talking after he spoke the room settled to silence. You could feel it again, his eyes set on you and you shifted uncomfortably in your seat. 

"Siebren was simply telling a joke." Amélie chimed in, her attempt to get Reaper to calm himself had him hesitantly sitting back in his seat. "We spent all afternoon making this meal, I expect you to respect that, Reaper. Sit and eat." 

He slumped back against his chair at the head of the table. His plate piled with food from many platters and yet each time you looked over to watch how he would eat it, he would be pushing around vegetables with his fork and staring down without ever lifting his mask to eat. You tried not to stare, tried not to wonder why he wouldn't just take off the mask for a meal. Siebren made it easier to distract yourself, he would tell you things about the sky, stories where he would stumble over his words trying to configure his thoughts. Oliva liked to mouth his words, seemingly having heard the stories he told you so many times she could recite them from memory. 

All through dinner your hand pulsed with pain, a large splinter had nestled itself beneath your skin along your middle finger but you did what you could to put it in the back of your mind. It prevented you from curling your finger around the chalice, always leaving you with a finger hovering above your utensils. Your knuckles were scabbed over, around the splinter you were bruised to a point where you couldn’t bend it. Although you tried your best to ignore it, when you did glace at him, you found Reaper was fixated on your hand wherever it moved.

As dinner was coming to an end and everyone had their fill, you caught Reaper stealing his plate away. He left with it through double doors into a kitchen on the other side and the room fell to strained silence. Amélie clicked her tongue and turned to Siebren. 

"He refused to take off his mask." She had these soulful eyes that were both disappointed and annoyed. 

"Give him time, Amélie. He must not be comfortable with her here yet." Siebren placed a hand on the back of your chair, looking to you an apologetic expression. 

"Or, the old man has finally lost all his humanity and only feasts on blood now." Olivia pointed to Siebren as if she'd said something with a point, but her comment only made the room groan. 

A small argument broke out between everyone, some citing that Reaper was too far gone to eat normally, others begging to keep an open mind. As they fought back and forth you stared at the bowl and that horrible drink he'd brought down, there was still a decent amount left shining at the bottom and as you sat there between arguments hurled at one another, all you could think about was how you'd laughed a drink he made himself. You wondered if that was his version of being polite, that his refusal to show his face was out of fear of disgust in the same way you were grossed out by the drink. 

You stood and dunked two small cups in filling them until they were practically spilling over. It was an impulse, without thought you were standing there with eyes locked on you before you looked around and turned to the door he'd left through. You were terrified at the thought of being face to face, but somewhere deep in your stomach you felt _bad_ for him. 

"You probably shouldn't-" Siebren moved to stop you as you turned but Amélie tsked him and silenced the room letting you freely push through the door. 

You found Reaper on the other side with his back turned to you, hunched over above a plate. It was your first glance at a real man behind the mask, with his hood down and white mask sitting next to him on a marble countertop you saw what you least expected to find: a human. From the back of his head you found his hair was once shaved at the sides, now grown out and the top flopped over in a mess of waves. His hair was dark with streaks of gray showing signs of age. From the other side of him, around his face light plumes of black smoke lifted into the air and you gasped in a breath as the door swung closed behind you.

"Reaper?" Your voice fell away from you, shaking and afraid he'd turn with death in his eyes. The moment he heard you, the plate clattered to the counter and he was pulling his hood over while frantically pressing his mask to his face.

"What the hell are you doing in here?" He asked as he turned sharply. His massive claws held the mask just above his face but hair fell around it, you could sense him, but he was hiding his true self from you. 

"I wanted to thank you for the drink." You lifted the cups slightly and offered one out to him. 

He paused, watching you as if he was expecting you to attack him before he slowly reached for the cup. Sharp talons curled around your hand and he made a point of lifting your injured middle finger. 

“That will become infected if it’s left like that.” 

“I-” So he had been staring at your hand. You wanted to pull away but the fear of being between such horrible claws forced you to be still. “I haven't been able to get it out.” 

He huffed out an unenthused noise before he twisted the cup away from your grip. He silently lifted it in cheers before turning away from you and downing the drink in one obnoxiously loud gulp, you tried to force your drink down as he adjusted his mask back against his face. Trying to swallow it in one big go left you with shivers down your arms and your chest pulsing with burning but you tried your best to keep a straight face once he returned to face you now back to his usual masked self. 

Without asking, he lifted your hand to his face. Sharp claws rested against your palm that made you tremble as they touched your skin. You stood across from him, watching as he carefully moved you between bladed fingers and pinched two claws together feeling for the edge of the splinter. You were thankful you'd drank that homemade brew, at least the aftertaste gave you something to think about other than how close you were to the business end of his talons. You sucked in a sharp breath at the quick pain of his fingers against your skin, only for it to ease as you watched him slowly pulling the tiny wood piece from you. As it left you were left catching your breath and trying to stabilize yourself on the verge of tears from finally being free of the sharp pain. 

“Thank you.” You breathed out with a sigh of relief and stared at the blood prickling along your skin. 

“I’ve patched up much worse, there’s no need to thank me.” He almost sounded annoyed that he even helped you in the first place. “Now, I kindly ask that you stay out of my office and refrain from breaking my things.”

“Uh-” Your stomach sank, he knew you’d been through his office. 

“And when you’re done reading it, I would like the witch’s book back.” His eyes were on you behind his mask, your hand still in his. 

"I would like _my journal_ back." You found your voice despite being afraid of him. He had no retort, you stole something of his because he'd stolen something of yours. You stared into the empty black of his mask, heart beating your throat wondering what kind of man he was beneath the mask if he wasn't a true monster. "Why are you so intent on keeping it?" 

He dropped your hand and balled a fist at his side. You could feel that he wanted to say something, that his lungs wanted to scream some sort of truth to you, but he was stopping himself. 

He shook his head and pushed his unfinished plate into the sink with a loud clatter of porcelain against metal. You stumbled back at the loud noise, only for Siebren to burst through the doors thinking you were in danger. Reaper shouldered past him, leaving out through the dining hall followed by a trail of wandering eyes and you were left standing there rubbing at the raised section on your finger. There was something awful on your tongue as you listened to the door swinging back and forth slowly coming to a close, you weren't sure if the bitter taste left in your mouth was from the drink or from Reaper's childish actions. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Is this chapter specifically meant to roast Reaper's drink from the cookbook? Maybe. Can neither confirm nor deny. ─=≡Σᕕ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)ᕗ


	8. Can't Stay Here Another Minute

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for being so patient with the updates everyone! You'll likely see more consistent/often ones going forward as I'm stuck at home for a bit with everything that's going on. ( ˶˘ ³˘(˵ ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°˵)♡  
> Here's a longer chapter as a thank you! <3

The more you thought about Reaper's behavior, the more enraged you became. To flip from being so gentle and genuine to nothing more than an enraged child in a moment's notice seemed impossible, it felt as if the man who helped you with your splinter was an entirely separate person than one who huffed and stomped away at the first mention of your journal.

You were pacing in your room- _the guest room_ , you reminded yourself, it was not _your_ room- angrily flipping through the pages of the witch's book trying to read between every line to figure out if Reaper's curse was one that made him into the most insufferable man alive. You had no proof Reaper was also cursed, but you assumed as much considering his ridiculous outfit with that stupid mask and his outrageous behavior. If he wasn't cursed you could think of no valid explanation to his words or his actions, he was insufferable, he was frustrating, as you paced around the room you muttered of him being the bane of your existence until you heard voices in the hall. 

Your fireplace had been burning so long all that was left were orange embers glowing beneath ash. Amélie didn't return to her room until late that night, you could hear her and Siebren having a muffled argument with Akande through the door, somewhere down the hall before they each returned to their rooms to retire. They were arguing about Reaper, you strained to hear exactly what, but they seemed to be fighting about how to handle him going forward. 

Just thinking about Reaper had you heated still. You were going mad all night in that room all by yourself, you'd throw the quilts off your legs with annoyed grumbling somehow finding a reason to blame him for your inability to sleep along with everything else. All night you tossed and turned annoyed with him because you just wanted _answers_ and he seemed to be the barrier between you and the truth of what was happening in that castle. 

You finally fell asleep in wee hours of the morning, after hours and hours of tossing around you woke from fruitless sleep to Reaper's aggressive and startling knocking. You shot up to a seat at the edge of the bed and glared at the door with bloodshot eyes hoping you could will him away, not wanting to deal with him before the sun was even peaking over the mountains. 

“Go away, Reaper! You act like a spoiled child! Refusing to give me back my things, refusing to eat at the dinner table, running away at the first sign of confrontation!" Your voice was rough from sleep, you didn't care anymore if you pissed him off. "I want nothing to do with you if you're going to act so insolent-" 

“I did not come here to fight, would you-” From the other side of the door Reaper pushed out a long breath and his voice strained as he spoke between gritted teeth. You moved to the door lightly on your feet, listening closely as Siebren cleared his throat in a scolding manner before Reaper attempted again. “If you would accept, we- I- would be _so honored_ to have you join us- _me_ for breakfast.”

“Reaper, _your manners.”_ Siebren groaned. 

“Please.” Reaper said curtly. 

“No thank you.” You responded against the door, your shoulders pressed to the old wood. It was like he didn't care for a single thing you said, like nothing you said mattered and only his wishes were valid beneath the castle roof. 

“But I am inviting you to eat with us!” He yelled out. 

“You ate by yourself in the kitchen last night! There is no reason for you to invite me if you’re just going to sit there staring at your food for hours then disappear behind the kitchen doors!” 

“Would you rather starve instead?!” He knocked a hand against the door shaking you. His voice turned to the hall. “You must join me! I asked nicely!"

"That was not nice." Amélie pleaded, you could picture her with fingers pressed to her temples and disappointment across her face. 

"Well, if she doesn’t eat with me, then she will not eat _at all.”_ Reaper beat at your door one final time before his footsteps echoed down the hall. You felt his anger, he was frustrated that you wouldn't open the door, that wouldn't see him after his temper tantrum after dinner and all you could respond with was an eye roll he would never see. 

It was a few moments before you heard Amélie's soft knocking in his place. Her knock was unsure and apologetic, even she was ashamed of his actions. You opened it just a crack checking to make sure Reaper hadn't somehow reappeared before you let her in. 

“I'm so sorry for Reaper. I promise he is not all bad, deep down Reaper still has a heart.” Amélie sat with you in their chairs facing the fireplace after helping you light logs to warm the room. You curled your knees beneath your chin and stared at her expression of distress. She hated that he acted this way, you knew that much, but her distress always came out of sorts when you thought back to the fact that she dealt with him every day. "He is trying, which is more than we've seen in years, but I know he must be very... abrasive to deal with when you do not know him as we do." 

"Why do any of you put up with him, Amélie?" You asked as you dug your nails into the fabric of your pale blue pants. You were annoyed, distressed, you just wanted him out of your life and your journal back in your hands. To you, it was so simple. 

"We do not have a choice." She said to her lap. "That is part of his curse, we ended up being byproducts of the witch's ultimate plan against him, unable to leave, unable for him to harm us. I'm sure you've read of the curses she placed on us in that book of hers." 

"Reaper's is _conveniently_ missing." You mumbled as you opened the pages to show her where paper had been ripped from the binding. "I did see the one that mentioned you though... and someone named Gérard?"

"Gérard." She smiled to herself before taking the book into her hands and looking through the torn pages. She paused on his page, her fingers pressed to his name and eyes glazing over. "He is my husband. One of the king's most trusted advisors and closest friends. I loved him- I still love him with all my heart." 

"His curse affected you, I'm assuming. Is it alright if I asked what happened?" You stared at her, at her purple skin and her hair falling down the back of her head in a long ponytail as she twisted her fingers in the ends. She tried to hide as much of her skin as possible usually. Always wearing black riding pants and black boots to match, she favored flowing blouses and fitted overcoats to distract from her offputting skin and shining yellow eyes. Amélie left her fingers between the bookbinding as she set it in her lap and looked to you with a soft gaze. 

"He was cursed to be killed by the love of his life. The witch cast her final spells during the war between the kings, when there was already chaos wrecking the castle. I felt it immediately, it was as if my body had a mind of its own and knew exactly where to find Gérard. I pushed through soldiers, avoided blades and arrows until I found him locked behind one of the tower doors in the west wing. I did not want to... in my mind I knew I would never want to, but I was trapped inside of myself and I resisted as hard as I could-"

Her eyes were glossy, but her face expressionless. You waited patiently as she gathered her thoughts, silently watching a woman cursed too many times over trying to find the right words to tell you what happened to her. 

"Curses will punish you, if you resist. I forced myself to stop, and in doing so the curse tried to kill me from the inside out. I felt my soul rotting away, my skin went cold and numb, my heartbeat stopped. When I tried to prevent the inevitable, the curse was going to find a way even if that meant killing me only to use me as a vessel. It was horrible. Gérard, he- well it saw what it was doing to me. He grabbed me by the face and put the blade in my hand. He kissed the shell of the woman he loved as I was driving it into his heart and he offered no resistance." 

Tears were falling from the corners of her eyes, but she didn't seem to notice. You wanted to reach out to hold her, to believe that she could be okay but that sort of damage takes a toll you could never yourself imagine. 

"Reaper was the one who found me, after. He went by a different name then." She watched as a tear dropped to the book and she lifted her hand to wipe at her cheek as if they were nothing. "He'd been going room to room looking for survivors of the fight, he looked awful himself. He was- he _is_ kind. He thinks he is no longer that man who comforted me as I sobbed surrounded by my husband's blood, but he is. I can still see him there behind the mask even if he can not. He is too afraid to allow himself to feel something true because he is afraid his curse will accelerate and he will be left like me." 

"Amélie?" Your heart was being pricked with needles, thinking of her in such a state brought you to welling tears. You wanted to ask her more, to pry into what Reaper's curse was, to know why they were all stuck there because of him, but you watched as her body caught up to her emotions. 

She stood, pressing her sleeve against her cheeks and her breath catching in her throat. It was horribly bizarre to watch someone cry with no emotion on their face. 

"The cruelest part is that if I want to free myself from Gérard's curse, I must kill another's true love." She turned away from you in shame. "But I have accepted who I am now, the only thing I wish to see is that those around me are afforded the opportunity that was ripped away from me. My apologies for having to see me like this. " 

"I'm so sorry you were forced to do that-" You began as you stood to comfort her. She raced for your door before you could even begin to reach out and touch her. 

"I think Olivia needs me in the galley." She said beneath her breath, clearly an excuse so you wouldn't need to see her cry anymore. "I know it is much to ask, but please be gentle with Reaper. He needs a chance to show you who he truly is, some time to get to know you, I think. If you truly want to know about his curse, you should ask him yourself." 

“I want nothing to do with that man.” You shook your head, you couldn't give any chances to a man willing to act the way he did. 

Amélie remained silent, a hand raised to her face. 

"Was he being serious?" You began as she stepped through your doorway. "I can't eat unless he's there?" 

"Yes. If you choose not to, we will try to bring you meals throughout the day." She spoke sadly, _disappointed_ almost. "I will not force you to eat with him, but we will honor his wishes. He will come asking every day. I leave it up to you to agree." 

You were left in silence with a cracking fire and thoughts overwhelming you. Questions of curses and freewill crept into the back of mind and buried themselves at the bone of your skull.

You were reeling. 

In the gray afternoon sun, you sat on the wall of the castle balcony from your room. Your heels bounced off the stone as you swung your legs below you, fingers gripped to stop yourself from tumbling forward and you breathed in the forest air happy to have a small escape from your room. In the fog the day, you watched Reaper as he wandered through the front court of the castle, he did his usual rounds of checking the edges and paths before he stopped at a destroyed fountain and crouched down to touch metal claws to the marble. His mind seemed to be a mystery, you wondered what must have destroyed the fountain in the first place, you wondered if that spot was special to him or if he had any spots in the castle that were close to heart at all. 

While you watched him, you began to overthink the black clouds and the trail of death that followed you until you found these people, this place and for the first time in weeks finally felt a sigh of relief. You wondered if you were cursed in the same way Amélie was, drawn to this place like a moth to a flame, sealing in your own inevitability, but it was eating away at you what that curse could possibly be and why it would try so hard to drive you away from the forest until you found sanctuary behind the castle walls.

Reaper lifted his head to stare at you as you concluded this place was driving you insane. All you wanted to do was stay in your room and avoid the sad eyes of everyone within the walls. 

"You're going to fall to your death sitting there like that." He yelled up at you, his voice echoing off the stone. 

"You-" You opened your mouth to respond with biting sarcasm, only to stop as Amélie's pleading weighed heavily on your heart. "What are you doing down there?" 

"I was- everything out here is covered in roots and broken-" He threw his cloak behind him and crossed his arms over his chest, his voice drifting away, he was flustered. "I'm fixing things up!" 

"Oh, it looks like you're doing a _great_ job." You couldn't help the drolling sarcasm as you stared down at the court which had no attempt made to clean it or fix it in years.

"Yes, I-" He turned to gesture at the ground next to him. Pathways were broken and shattered, left to rot beneath dirt carried over from the wind. Statues and fountains which must have once been grand were cracked and crumbled being overtaken with dark ivy crawling along the edges threatening to take the structures back to nature. Branches were left from trees after breaking in wind storms or beneath the weight of snow from seasons ago. He wasn't taking care of it, he wasn't _fixing_ it, he was walking around wallowing in the shambles of a life once opulent and beautiful now left to die under his care.

He shook his head before curling his cloak around him and wordlessly disappearing towards the front door, you could hear the slamming of the heavy doors as they almost shook the wall beneath you and you were left chewing at the inside of your cheek looking around at the massive castle surrounding you. 

The main section of the castle, the courtyard and the entrance were in the center with wings that curved around on either side. The east wing housed mostly everyone, on the lower floors were the library and the galley, the greenhouse and the dining room. You'd only been allowed in the east wing, the west wing was where Reaper would stalk off to, where you'd been warned to stay away from, and from what you could see of it, it was for good reason. From the outside, the west wing looked like it had taken the hardest hits during the fight between kings. There were sections where the roof was opened and wood beams held on for dear life where they stood looking into dark empty rooms, some windows had either been spiderwebbed with shattering or were broken altogether, but the towers on the west side seemed mostly intact. 

You were curious, but you chose to stay put for the moment. With a heavy sigh, you turned on the wall and stood back on the solid floor of the balcony, it appeared that the guest room would be your only safe haven for quite some time. 

* * *

There you stayed refusing to show your face, refusing to do anything Reaper wished you to do until he gave you back what was yours.

Locked away in that room for well over a week, if you had counted the nights correctly. Reaper would knock at your door every morning and every evening, you would remain silent on the other side refusing to speak with him. Occasionally Amélie or Siebren would leave bowls of food covered on silver trays outside of your door that you'd have to steal into your room hoping Reaper didn't notice. You’d sneak away in the dead of night, only brave enough to get as far as the washrooms when you knew no one else would be around.

You thought if you just waited him out he would get bored knowing you were committed to remaining unseen, but your journal never returned to you. 

You felt yourself growing antsy and impatient, with every passing day your heart was pounding just a little harder and your forehead furrowing with deeper worry. 

One dreary afternoon you found yourself sitting on the balcony wall, Reaper had already knocked earlier and demanded you join him for dinner only to be met with your silence before he sulked off to the courtyard. You watched him trying (and failing, terribly) to clear some of the branches fallen down over the road leading to the front entrance, he would lose his step or trip over his cloak and an armful of wood would scatter across the yard, or he'd catch his sleeve on a tree and angrily mutter to himself before Siebren would join him and they would sit talking low enough that you couldn't hear them. 

They turned to look up at you sitting on the balcony wall midconversation, Siebren was gesturing your way and immediately you felt the rush of fight or flight hit you and you turned to run back inside unsure what they could be saying. 

Oh well, it was beginning to rain anyway. 

A storm was rolling through the forest, dark clouds taking to the sky coming from the sea and the village which seemed like a world away. Under the cover of rain pitter-pattering on the stone, after dinner time you felt brave, stayed cooped up in that room was driving you stir crazy and you felt this energy in the air that tempted you to venture out.

You looked through the hall and the open doors to make sure no one was around as you made the bold decision to wander to the one place you'd _specifically_ been told not to go. The castle was mostly quiet, save for the rain and the voices coming from the sitting room and the greenhouse where most everyone was. The flower in the center of the greenhouse was overwhelmed with glowing pollen floating around it, well within bloom- it seemed like it would open any day. You slipped by unnoticed, sneaking on your tiptoes taking extra care not to make any excess noise as Amélie and others spoke low around the glass-encased plant.

Knowing it was a high risk of getting caught, you kept to the walls as you found your way into the west wing. You knew you'd have to be especially careful wandering into Reaper's part of the castle where you assumed he'd be lurking within the shadows. 

His area was up a tall, wide staircase lined with stained carpets that had clearly seen better days. There were no candles or lamps in the west wing, only the glow of moonlight through parted storm clouds to bathe long halls through dirty windows. All the mirrors you passed were shattered, tapestries ripped, every corner and every wall appeared to be abandoned, otherworldly by how untouched it was since a terrible battle.

The west wing had the largest tower, you climbed higher and higher on a gigantic spiraling staircase that traced the walls of the tower. The higher you reached, the more you seemed to find artifacts left behind of life left forgotten and no longer being taken care of. Grand halls meant for the king, war rooms left turned over, armories raided, bedrooms for his council and his knights tossed through a raid. You wondered which door held Genji's room behind it, but you were much too afraid to make any noise through the halls to attempt opening any and send loud echos through the haunting tower. 

As you wandered, you found only one painting remained in near perfect condition. Unlike many of the others, this one had been painted directly on a sprawling castle wall against the stone of a large sitting area which had been destroyed and left to the dust long ago. The mural towered above you, the figures in it obscured, but in the moonlight you could see at the center stood two kings shaking hands. The king to the left wore all black with an onyx and ruby crown around flowing hair and a serious scowl. The king he was shaking hands with had a shining bright smile, a crown as gold as his hair and robes draped in vivid blues. Sprawling out along the wall on either side of the kings were the high members of the court, you almost tripped over yourself as you stared up at familiar faces. 

Furthest from the king with the black crown on his side, Genji stood in a suit of armor with the faceplate lifted to his forehead. He looked angry, angrier than you’d ever seen him, like there was hatred burning through his eyes. Next to him stood a woman, taller than all of them, bright orange hair, but her face had been scratched at with deep claw marks that ran down her body. You stood there with your mouth agape, she had her hand curled around Jesse’s shoulder and he seemed to have a satisfied smirk he always did. Between Jesse and the king stood a man with parted hair and a curled mustache, he was turned looking at the group of members behind him in a worried expression. A pang of emptiness hit you at your core, the mural of Jesse and Genji made you smile even though you knew it was just a painting- you wondered if they were worried about you. You stared at Jesse for a good while wallowing in guilt for leaving the village and disappearing on them. 

The blond king had a council to his side as well. A woman with a tattoo on her face and a braid tossed over her shoulder, a towering armored man beaming with a smile and missing an eye, a man shorter than all the others with a massive beard, and a blonde woman sporting metal wings from her shoulders who seemed to be watching the kings carefully.

It struck you as incredibly odd that none of the people from the mural were the ones stuck in the castle. 

There was this heavy feeling in the air as you crept to the highest floor of the west wing. A buzzing across your skin that made you feel as if you shouldn't be there, a nervousness that had you double-checking every corner before turning it. At the top of the twisting stairs was a long hall with all open doors. One seemed to lead to a washroom, the sounds of rushing water and steam drifting through the air hit you as you passed by calculating every step. You finally found a room with light glowing from it, the door at the end of the hall tempted you with the orange warmth of fire. 

You carefully looked in from behind the doorframe, checking for any signs of Reaper before moving in.

A bedroom. Inside, a four-pillar post bed with heavy black curtains on a bar above, the fabric had been torn at the bottom from sharp claws surrounding a bed of heavy blankets ripped from years of use and sewed patchwork. Armor hung on the walls, displays of war efforts resulting in damaged chest plates and weapons, they were shining dully in the firelight as you stepped in testing for any creaking floorboards. A scene had been hand-painted on the ceiling, angles and demons fighting a bloody battle where neither side seemed to be winning. You stared up in awe as you made your way to the floor to ceiling windows which looked out to low walls of a tower that overlooked much of the castle- as much as you hated to realize it, his bedroom windows looked right down to the balcony leading out of your room. 

"Tsk." You clicked your tonge as you let his curtains fall closed and turned with gusto realizing if it was Reaper's room, that meant he had your journal somewhere. 

You opened his dresser to find his signature cloak and mask resting within the wood doors. Fear coursed through your veins, all at once you were afraid he would appear before you with those terrible claws and rip your throat from you, but your mind was focused on finding one thing and one thing only, if you worked fast enough and quiet enough, you were confident that you would be able to get it before he returned from whatever dark corner of the castle he was hiding in. 

You searched. Drawers, cabinets, closets, anywhere and everywhere he could have hidden it. You turned his pillows over, ran your hand beneath his mattress, for far too long you searched through that room to no avail, until you heard a shifting at the open door.

The heavy cracking of floorboards beneath someone stepping, The sounds of someone sighing deeply from their chest. Your heart stopped as you snapped up to stare at someone, or _something_ , moving through the doorway.

A towering brute of a man, he had muscles that almost seemed unreal both in how strong he seemed and by how deeply scarred his body was. He was rubbing a towel over his face and into his hairline, you recognized the hair as what you’d seen briefly beneath Reaper’s mask and your heart sank in your throat. Other than the towel over his face at the moment, he was stark nude and all at once you realized you could see everything, everything about his physique. It was hard not to glance down, but the distracting size of him between his legs caught your eye immediately had your face rushing with an overwhelming blush. 

There was nowhere to hide as he ran the rag down to his chest.

There you were, standing in his turned over room, guilty as day when he stopped the towel against his neck and locked eyes with you. 

He paused and for a brief moment you considered if you'd be able to survive with unbroken bones if you jumped from his window as absolute horror shook you to your very core.

“What are you doing in _my room?”_ Reaper barked as he pushed the towel quickly between his legs hiding what dignity he had left. His face, you couldn't stop staring at his face- _dear god, what the fuck happened to his face?!_ “You are not _allowed_ here!” 

He stood there with his shoulders rising in shaking breaths, brows furrowed in anger while he slowly realized you were petrified of him. You couldn't bring yourself to speak or move, unable to run or scream. His chest jumped with deep breaths and his eyes searched you for reactions of fear and disgust.

He was terrifying. A corpse walking with rotting flesh and sharp teeth seen through a hole torn at his cheek. Across his skin monstrous eyes had formed in places where eyes didn't belong, down his jaw, over his neck and even onto his chest, black with a blazing red in the center, all monstrous eyes turned to you. He was a man turned a nightmare, something created from the darkness and released to walk among the earth. He was a beast, if you'd ever seen one. 

Even still, you could see it- you could see the chiseled jaw of the man on the mural, the dark facial hair peppered with white from age and his true eyes locked in yours wide and glossy. 

“You’re-" Words hesitated to leave you. "You're... the king?" 

The king was dead. The king was killed in this very castle. 

“I was.” When he spoke you could see strings of muscle pulling around his jaw, it churned your stomach. He shouldn't have been trying to reason with you, he shouldn't be using such a gentle voice. “Long ago, I was.” 

“The entire kingdom thinks King Morrison killed you.” You were scared and on the verge of blinding anger, by him being alive that meant every story anyone told you about this kingdom was wrong. If you were wrong, no one knew the truth. King Reyes could not have been the man before you, but everything was falling into place and making far too much sense for you to deny it. 

“He drove his blade through me,” Reaper touched his fingertips lightly to his chest where a deep ugly scar crawled over his heart. He dropped his eyes before twisting slowly to show you his back where an even larger, nastier, _uglier_ scars had closed at the bottom of his shoulder where he'd once been stabbed through. “But he did not kill me.” 

Your head hurt, the room felt like it was spinning, everything in your gut was telling you that you were seeing something you were never supposed to see. Everything you knew about the kingdom was turned on its head, the longer you stared at the monster standing before you, the more you could feel caught hiccups forcing their way up your throat. He moved toward you, a worried, unsure step realizing too late he'd terrified you as you slammed your back accidentally against his bedpost and held your hands in front of you trying to keep him at a distance. 

“What are you?” You whispered with strained lips. 

"I-" He began to answer but saw your fear, his brows dropped and twisted in pain, eyes unable to meet yours. "I'm not sure anymore." 

His body appeared to be human, but he very much wasn't.

You'd only heard rumors of creatures like him, of monsters that would lurk in the darkest pits of hell only to emerge to claim unbeknownst victims. All they knew was death, blood, and hate. You needed to get away from him, you needed to get out of that damn castle as quickly as possible. Just the sight of him chilled you to the core and left you shaking as you gripped against his bedpost in fear. He watched you with a hurt expression and that towel pressed between his legs, you couldn't take your eyes off him as you waited for your chance to dart.

He stepped back, away from the door until he pressed his back to the wall, purposefully giving you room to escape as he clawed a hand over his heart.

"Go." He growled as he squeezed his eyes shut. 

Without a second thought, you ran past him. No worried glances over your shoulders, no checking if he was following you- fight or flight kicked in full force as your body told you to get as far from the castle as your feet would take you. Your bounding down the stone staircase echoed off the walls, your labored breathing brought on by absolute fear clouding your mind all the way down floors until you reached the main hall. You felt blinded and irrationally stupid for ever thinking you could sneak away your things after someone _like that_ got their hands on them. 

Your running brought the attention to the rest of the castle. As you were practically stumbling down the final staircase into the entrance hall with the large pillars and rain pounding at the roof, you heard Siebren's surprise to seeing you fleeing from the wrong place. 

"Were you in the west wing?!" He shouted at you before it dawned on him that you were paled and shaking. 

You didn't stop. You couldn't stop. You had to go, you couldn't even look at him as you flung the heavy front door open with a strength you could only attribute to sheer panic. Realization must have sunk in, he called for everyone to follow him, that you were leaving. A flurry of footsteps rushed through the entrance hall behind you as you stepped out into the cold rain and soft mud of the night. 

"Wait, please!" Siebren chased after you, with Amélie close behind. "Tell us what happened!"

All of them followed you into the courtyard, the rain obscured their bodies as you glanced behind you and only saw a group of Reaper's conspirators who wanted to keep you there for reasons beyond you. The forest felt safer than the castle, you were willing to fight off wolves or short circuited omnics if it meant you would never have to see what was beneath Reaper's mask again. They called out, they pleaded your name, begging for you to stop as you slid through the mud and pushed your way through the only escape, the hole in the gate where large thorns threatened if you moved too quickly.

Just as you managed your way through, Siebren reached you but stopped abruptly at the thorns and you turned to find him falling to his knees as he stared back at you. 

"You saw him." He reached out toward you, his voice breaking as you looked down to him sinking in the mud. "You saw Reaper, didn't you?" 

"That man is a monster." You weren't sure if you were crying or not, you knew you could barely breathe and that your cheeks were slick but the rain made it hard to tell. You were shaking, you couldn't stop shaking. 

"He is no more a monster than any of us." Siebren reached out to grab your wrist. You watched in horror as his hand faded into black smoke and disappeared into the air the moment he tried to push through the property edge past the vines and thorns. His hurt expression turned from you to Amélie just as she reached behind him and he slowly brought his arm back to his body as his hand appeared back from the drifting smoke. She gripped into the sleeve of his shirt, lips bit between her teeth before she tugged at him and looked through the vines to you. 

"If she wants to leave, we can not stop her." Amélie's spoke quietly to him before lifting her eyes to meet yours. 

There was a twisting in your stomach. You could see Reaper's ruined face in the darkest corners of your mind, you could feel his sharp talons clawed deep into your gut and threatening to drag to down to the depths he emerged from, but you could see the absolute pained desperation in his eyes that wanted nothing more than for you stay in that room and hear him out.

These people, this place, all of it was a horrid twisted version of some ruined kings castle. 

You were beginning to believe you'd imagined everyone in there, that whatever curse was affecting you made you create these insane images of people your mind could only create. 

You fell back, hands slapping into the sharp underbrush of the forest as you looked through to a group of people blurred by the rain and you knew that no story, nothing you could write in a journal would be as important as your sanity. For a fleeting moment you almost reached back through the vines, to touch Siebren's cheek and wipe at wet eyes. The moment was dashed as the heavy wood doors of the castle slammed open and out came an unmasked Reaper finally sporting clothing in the form of only pants. That was the final nail in the coffin, even from the distance, and through the rain you were met with the horrifying image of his monstrous gaze and you turned only to sprint far off into the twisted forest of dark trees. 

You ran, you ran with your pulse racing hard against your veins. The further you ran the darker the world behind you became. That feeling in the pit of your stomach that rushed with anxiety, you turned to look behind you only to find black clouds curling through the dead twisted trees and the castle quickly disappearing as you fled through a burned village. Your legs felt numb, knees gone weak and threatening to send you tumbling to the ground with every step. 

You ran, and ran, and ran, ran until you lost the ability to take in air and you collapsed with your hands grating against the hard bark of a tree. Before your eyes you watched it wither away, already dead the bark beneath your touch shriveled to black ash and crumbled until you fell over with it. Your head was heavy, mind quickly pounding with the fear of a demon chasing behind you but your body was frozen as you collapsed into the dirt and withering dead tree.

With your vision fading you were staring out into the darkness, shivering as rain pounded against your skin, you could see ominous red glowing glaring in your direction. All you could do was lay there, frozen in fear, body overwhelmed with numb screaming for Genji to find you and save you. The beeps of curious omnics became clearer as the red lights came closer and you couldn't move, a looming threat coming ever closer as your face pressed to splintering wood. 

Then horrific growling, shouting to stay away from you. Black clouds closed in around your vision, your world becoming nothing more than a spinning pinpoint. The crunch of metal, the horrible screams of brainless omnics being ripped apart bounced around you. 

"No-" You heard Reaper gasp from somewhere above you. "Amélie was right, I should have listened to her. You're-" 

More fighting. You could feel the metal of omnics hitting the ground around you, he was fighting off too many off them for you to keep track of. In a blur, you were lifted in strong arms and the only thing in your vision was the deep scar on his chest and the monstrous black eyes turned to watch you along his skin. 

"I'm so sorry." His voice pleaded above you. "This is all my fault. I have to take you back to the castle one last time, once you're well I'll escort you out of the forest. I promise." 


	9. This Might Sting A Little

"You mutter in your sleep." Reaper's grating voice wasn't exactly the first thing you wanted to hear as you stirred awake.

Peaceful sleep broke as you moved beneath sheets and tried to open your heavy eyes. The dim glow of morning was creeping through massive windows across the room as you fluttered open your eyes and you found yourself tucked away in the bed of what you could only best guess was once an infirmary. The clothes you'd been wearing- Siebren's large billowy shirt and those pale blue pants- were folded on an iron table next to you, placed at the side of a pitcher filled with chilled water and an elixir of some kind. You moved beneath the quilts to push yourself up and found your hands wrapped in white cloth bandages, palms cut from gripping against rough wood bark. 

Your whole body ached, but the overwhelming feeling of fear had finally left you and you only felt numb as you forced yourself up.

You knew you were in Reaper's arms the night before. He'd carried you back to the castle and handed you off to Siebren, who tended to you with wet cheeks that pulled at your heartstrings as you drifted in and out of consciousness. Memories were fleeting and fogged, you remembered Reaper and his soul shaking face kneeling at your side as he personally wrapped your hand, Amélie helping you out of muddy clothes and into the frilly evening gown you wore as you laid in bed, Maximilien and his omnic hand touching your arm as he wished you well when he dropped off your newly cleaned clothes.

Now wide awake and acutely aware of Reaper, masked and standing at the end of the bed, you looked to him with a twisting in your stomach that almost sent you reeling once more. He'd put his mask and forearm gloves back on but was dressed far more casually than his usual get up with a shirt that showed off his muscular arms- you caught yourself staring at fresh wounds still smeared in blood and slowly healing over. 

"Where is Amélie?" You demanded. 

"Amélie and the others are cooking breakfast." His metal covered claws curled at the bottom edge of the bed frame. Still unable to hide your fear, you jerked your legs away from him and brought them to your chest where you sat staring with wide eyes at the wounds along his arms as you hugged your knees close to you. "You're scared of me. You have every right to be. I know I have been demanding and, as Amélie would describe me, insufferable. I understand why you'd be afraid of me, but I just want to talk."

"I don't want you near me." Your voice shook. He took the hint and let go of the bed frame, in wide steps he walked back until he was across the room and sitting against the windowsill. With the sun beginning to erase the black night sky, he was only a shadow against the glass, nothing more than the silhouette of a man. If it weren't for the sharp angles of the mask, you would almost mistake him for something human. The initial shock of seeing what he hid beneath had worn off, you were left drowning in worry as you gripped at your legs. "Why did you save me?" 

"Would you like the polite answer or the honest answer?" He crossed his arms with an annoyed huff. 

"Honest, I guess." You snarled in return. 

"I have been _convinced_ you are the person who can break my curse." His claws gripped tight against his arms as he shook his head. "I wanted to keep you here for selfish reasons. To make you set me free, to ask you why you had pages and pages of stories told by my former agents- I had all these questions for you and yet I was sabotaging myself every chance I had of speaking to you because I was afraid you would see me as all the others see me, as nothing more than a monster." 

"It's a little late for that." 

"I know." 

You sat in silence for far too long. Amélie didn't see him as a monster, she saw kindness in him, she saw a king who held her as her body went numb and her husband's blood stained the floorboards. In fact, no one truly spoke of Reaper as if he was a monster, only that they were concerned for his appearance- the only two people who saw him as such were sitting in the infirmary staring at each other as they tried to figure the other person out. Reaper was an angry, bitter man, his fuse was short but he was still human. Or, at the very least, there was still something human about him, the human side helped pull a splinter from your finger and got annoyed when you mocked him. 

"I'm terrified of you." He finally spoke. Terrified of _you?_ If you weren't sure he could snap your neck with absolutely no effort, you would have laughed out loud, instead you stared back in confusion. 

"You dragged me into a dungeon before we ever even spoke. _You_ don't get to say you're terrified of me." You snapped back in anger. 

"That's exactly it- that right there." He sounded almost like he was smiling. "I was used to people fearing me, cowering at the sight of me, my subjects willfully agreeing to everything I asked because of my title and my power. Then you showed up. Unannounced, causing a stir with everyone, sleeping in my castle, refusing to even see me, I've never dealt with someone as defiant as you are and... it's silly. I was beginning to think that you wouldn't fear me. That if I just had the chance to speak with you maybe I could have shown you what I look like and you wouldn't be bothered by my... unseemly appearance. I'm terrified of you because I think they are right, I think you're the one person who can break my curse, but now that I've realized it, it's far too late."

"Why would you think I could be capable of breaking your curse?" You asked as your bloodshot eyes welled with tears. It hurt down to your bones, the anxiety that wracked through you had you curling your fists into the nightgown and ready to scream at the top of your lungs. Those damn black clouds that followed you, darkness that wanted nothing more than to warn you to stay away from the kingdom were driving you irreparably insane. 

"Curses are nasty things brought on by even more wretched people. Every curse must have a way to break it, even ones that blur the lines of life and death, like mine. As you may have noticed after you _so kindly_ stole the witch's book, my pages are missing. They were taken by another magic user, a former member of my council who went by the name of Jean-Baptiste Augustin. I tasked him to pour through her notes, to tear apart her labs trying to find anything that could reverse the damage she'd done, but he found almost nothing to help us."

"What did he find?" You asked as your grip against your knees loosened. There was a sadness in his voice, a finality to knowing what chaos he'd caused. 

"The Titanum Curse, the witch's final and evilest act of all." He tsked and rested his hands at his sides on the windowsill, shrugging his shoulder's high. "She cast spells on all of us individually of course, but the Titanum Curse was to ensure those who were left in the castle would be forced to stay for eternity and suffer, bound completely to me." He lifted his head, you could feel his eyes all turned to you waiting on your response but you stayed silent wanting him to continue. "That flower in the greenhouse encased in glass, it is an amorphophallus titanum, a death blossom. It appeared the morning after the battle and has been growing ever since. Augustin found that the witch realized there was a loophole in the curse she was casting, a way to get around the unspoken laws of curses always having a way to break them. She put a limit on the ability to break the curse, once it blooms the effects will be permanent and everyone who is under her spells will be trapped forever."

"Siebren reached for me when I tried to leave last night. His hand turned to smoke, but you were able to leave the grounds. Why is it not affecting you the same way?" 

"That's the cruelest part, she went to great lengths to ensure those stuck at the castle would hate me. She granted me the freedom to leave, I can travel to search for food to bring back to them or supplies if we need them, but if I am gone for too long the world starts to become confusing and dark. She doomed me to a life of suffering and hatred, to always be around people who depend on me to survive." 

"Well, it hasn't bloomed yet so that means there is still a way to break the curse, right?" 

"I believe I've ruined my one chance." He let out a desperate exasperated laugh. "Augustin, that fool, he warned us. Before he managed to free himself with his own magic, he told us if any person was going to be capable of breaking the Titanum Curse, the world would be working against them and do everything possible to keep them from finding the castle. Omens of black clouds and death following them, fits of bad weather, a rapid acceleration of the curse's effects. I believe I've accepted far too late that you were the person who could have broken the curse." 

"Death and rain are inevitable. I don't think that means I would-" 

"It rained for the first time over this forest in seven years the night you arrived." His voice was wavering, but serious. "I know I looked awful, but my appearance has deteriorated drastically since you arrived. Forgive me for my boldness, but I can not see that as just a coincidence anymore." 

"If you really think that I'm the one then why not let me try anyway? What do I need to do?" Your heart hurt, it felt like it was being locked away in your chest with spikes pressing into the softest parts. It was a pain, a guilt unlike you'd experienced any other time. If you really were someone that could save them, and you tried to run away, it must have killed them to watch you leave in such a way. Reaper sighed and turned to the window, looking out at the sunbeams pillaring into the sky, refusing to face you as he spoke.

"The only way to break the Titanum Curse is through..." His voice wavered before he laughed at himself and brought a clawed hand to grip at his mask. "Listen to me, _I'm pathetic_. I can't even say it because it's so absurd." 

"Just spit it out, Reaper." 

"The witch genuinely believed I am unloveable." He growled as he spun around and hit a fist against the wall. "To break this damn spell someone needs to love me and I have to love them in return. That's why it was so important for her to try any keep outsiders away, she wanted me to stay this way, she wanted me to be hated forever!" 

"And you thought I was capable of loving you?!" 

Oh, no. That came out harsher than you intended, you could feel the burn of your words as they sank into the silence of the room. His chest heaved a large breath, as if he'd been holding it waiting to hear you say exactly what he'd been thinking all along. Your mouth hung open trying to formulate words to smooth things over, but there was no coming back from that. 

He reached into the depths of a pocket on the side of his pants, you winced initially as you imagined him pulling a weapon and silencing you forever. 

Instead, he produced your journal. 

"Take it. Clearly we must have been mistaken that you could break it." He tossed it with ease, your journal spun through the air landing with pages open to the foot of the bed where you stared at it in anger. "I think we can agree that we do not want to be around each other. Once you're feeling well, have Siebren find me and I'll escort you to the edge of the closest village so we can be rid of one another." 

"Wait, I didn't mean for that to sound-"

"Don't." He growled as he angrily turned to head out the infirmary doors. "You meant what you said. You know it, I know it, everything in this fucking nightmare of a castle knows it." 

He slammed the door behind him, the echo of it reverberated off the infirmary's tall ceilings. Left completely alone, you finally looked around. The back of the room had many beds all pushed together and piled on top of one another, most of the furniture was broken and a large section of the infirmary looked as if it was no longer in use. A room that must have at one time been able to hold dozens of injured soldiers could now only handle one or two people. You turned your eyes to your clothes, folded and left waiting for you on the bedside table, you noted the clothes you arrived in the castle wearing were still missing.

Knowing you needed to get up and change, you caught the open pages of your journal and found something unusual. 

Handwriting, not yours, messy and scribbled in black ink across your pages. It could only have been Reaper's writing, and as you flipped through your pages you found he was adding on notes or scribbling out things between the stories Jesse and Genji had told you. 

_**It is not that simple!** _He wrote next to Genji's words saying King Reyes had turned on his people.

 _ **Moira O'Deorain.**_ He scribbled next to your first mention of the witch. 

_**LIAR.**_ He practically ripped through Jesse's page as you wrote about the story of his arm and the village. 

He'd been through it all, read the whole thing and clearly had something to say about it. You stayed in the infirmary bed trying to decipher his little notes until the wandering smell of a sizzling breakfast wafted into the room. The sky was finally changing to a brilliant orange as the sun pushed above the mountains, the windows were still wet with rain which had since cleared and left a dawning chill over the land. You pushed yourself to your feet, winching at your bandaged hands before taking your time to dress into proper clothes. 

The whirlwind of the night and the sobering conversation with Reaper left you aching in your heart. You were angry with him for acting like a spoiled child, you were petrified of the corpse he seemed to hide beneath the mask, but you were not cruel. 

You wandered to the guest room, unsure what your intentions were, only find yourself reaching beneath your pillow to pull the witch's book of curses. Standing there in the center of the room, mind blank and running on the crash of adrenaline and a foggy memory of life in the village, you turned to the empty bookshelf in the corner of the room and placed both the book and your journal on a shelf sitting at eye level. Your fingers lingered on the spine of your journal, your body hesitating as you glanced at the door. It felt like you were making a decision, one that you couldn't take back. 

As your fingers fell from the edge of the bookshelf, you moved to grip over your rumbling stomach. 

Maybe joining them for breakfast before you left forever wouldn't be so bad.

You wandered through the halls looking at them through a different lens. Every scratch mark, every splintered corner or ripped tapestry, the walls you walked through saw terror you would never know. You traced the wall with your hand, touching dark wallpaper as you made your way down to the main floor and the dining room beneath the sprawling stairs. 

The doors to the dining room were wide open, bright sunlight from the windows overlooking the pond out back was lighting the carpet and dining table. You could hear everyone inside clinking glasses together and having their usual morning bickering, it seemed to be louder than usual. As you peeked through the door you could see them all, most of them were gathered at one end of the table while Akande sat closer to Reaper who was at the head, but even he still kept his distance by sitting a couple of seats away.

No one had seen you yet nor were they actually expecting you to show up, you knew immediately as you looked to the end of the table and found Reaper’s mask was off. It was resting at the corner of the table and his mangled face exposed for everyone to see, although everyone seemed to be actively avoiding looking in his direction at all. You watched him continuing to pick up and put down his food, wanting to eat only to stop himself and stare into the reflective silver of a food platter. 

Seeing him upset twisted your heart but at the same time made you sick. Was it possible to be absolutely terrified of someone and yet feel empathy? It hurt to watch him. 

You looked to Siebren instead, the stars in the dome at the back of his head glittered while he turned to speak with Amélie. They had a place set for you, plates laid out between them just as they had been the first time you sat with them in the dining hall. After steadying yourself and drawing in a long breath, you appeared in the doorway timidly. The room fell to a hush, all eyes looked to you before they flickered to Reaper who had a spoon halfway to his mouth.

“Ah-it’s so good to see you here this morning!” Siebren called out as he stood, there was nervousness in his voice as he glanced back to Reaper who stayed frozen staring at you. “Please- Please have a seat, join us-” 

“Thank you, Siebren. Good morning everyone. I'm sorry for all the commotion last night.” You waved him off with a polite smile and grabbed your plate, he'd stood to push in your seat after you sat in it and he turned to watch you in utter confusion as you passed right by him. The room watched in heavy silence as you carried the plate all the way to Reaper then placed your hand over the backrest of the closest chair to his left. All your instincts told you to run in the opposite direction, but you pushed your deepest fears to the pit of your stomach and quieted them. “Is it alright if I sit here?”

The look in his eyes told you he was calculating if you were playing a trick on him or not, he was untrusting, unsure, downright uncomfortable that you would even ask. He wasn't lying when he said he was terrified of you. 

“You will lose your appetite sitting next to me.” He finally grumbled before dropping his spoon back into his bowl and moved to cover his mouth, or what was left of it, with his hand.

Ignoring your gut reactions, you forced yourself into the seat at his side. Plates moved around to their proper setting, chair grinding across the floor making unbearably loud scratching noises, you settled in at Reaper's side and began to lean over the table to bring in the morning’s breakfast. He watched you, maybe in horror or shock, but he couldn’t take his eyes off you and you felt it. Between every spoonful plopped onto your plate you stared right back, you focused on the monstrous black eyes and open skin. 

“It seems you had a lot to say about the stories in my journal.” You lazily pointed to him and watched the subtlest hint of pink rose to his face. He opened his mouth and furrowed his brows, you recognized the twitch of his hand that told you he about to argue something. "It's okay, don't get upset. I'm not angry, I actually-"

You slowly lowered your hand towards his where it rested on the table. Your mind raced as you feared touching him would poison you, that the decay and magic keeping his body together would somehow spread to you, but your hesitant hand touched the back of his wrist gently. He wasn't protesting, he didn't move or breathe. When you lifted your gaze to meet his eyes you saw the look of a man who hadn't seen a loving touch in a lifetime, his eyes were wide and fearful but you saw something hopeful in them. 

"If you can keep your temper in check I would like to hear what you have to say about it all."

"I can keep my temper! If you think I would allow you to stay here after you were so frightened of me-"

"I wouldn't be so scared of you if you hadn't been a terror from the moment we met-"

"Well-!" He glanced at the rest of the table, flabbergasted and expecting them to jump in. "You- you shouldn't have been in the west wing!" 

"I wouldn't have been in the west wing if you had just been honest!" 

He looked down only to see you were still resting your hand over his wrist, you squeezed him lightly and moved to slide your fingers away from him only for his other hand to land on yours. Shiny claws rested over the dressings, white gauze wrapped tightly at your skin, the covering of your wounds and the sharpness of his talons left you uneasy but you made yourself look into his eyes. 

There was a thumping in your chest you couldn't ignore. You weren't convinced it was fear, it was too deep in your heart, it made your face rush with heat. You could see the man, the human behind the monster. 

You refused to believe you were this monster's fate, but at the very least you could swallow your fear long enough to get you the truth of a story that would make heads spin. Everyone's eyes were on you, everyone waiting as Reaper calmed himself and longingly looked only to you. 

"I'm sorry I ran from you. I hope you can understand that I'm still a little uneasy even now, and I don't want to lie to you or make you think I'm not afraid of you because I am. But, I want to stay to learn about everything. The kingdom deserves to know the truth about this place and what happened here. I can't be the person you need me to be, but if you're patient and you're honest, I can at least be a friend if you'll allow me to stay just a few days longer. All I ask is that you don't throw me in dungeons and you don't force me to be by your side if I don't want to be. Let me try to help in the small way I can." You breathed out, still scared it would be a trick and those claws of his would be ripping at your skin any moment. "Thank you for saving my life, by the way." 

"You're welcome." He replied quietly. His eyes turned back to the audience fixated on you. "Although, I am no longer the king so I shouldn't be making the call, it can't be entirely up to me. Everyone should have a say-"

A chorus of voices exploded all at once. 

"Yes, oh my lord of course she can stay-"

"I'll chop some extra wood this afternoon-" 

"We'd love for her to stay!"

"Look at him, he's blushing." Sombra's voice snickered above the rest and immediately Reaper pulled his arms from you to grab at his mask and fasten it to his face. 

"I'm not leaving, I promise-" He immediately began to defend himself as he stood thinking you would assume he was once again running at the first sign of being uncomfortable. "I just- I need a moment of fresh air." 

Amélie was smiling like a giddy child, her eyes lit up as she looked between Maximilien and Siebren. You stared down at your plate, shocked at your own actions and replaying the conversation in your mind. Nervousness was bubbling in your chest, you were free, you could ask to leave at any time, you had your journal, but weirdly enough you were starting to feel settled. It was strange with this everpresent fear that something about to go terribly wrong and yet looking at the relief on the faces around you made you smile before you finally began to eat a warm breakfast. 

A few days. You told yourself you'd only be there a few more days, just long enough to fill out the rest of your journal and then you'd be well on your way to Morrison's kingdom where you could tell Genji all about his former king and laugh about you disappearing for far too long. 

Just a few days, that's it. 


	10. Flowers, Chocolates, Promises You Don't Intend To Keep

Meals seemed to be when the castle had the biggest sense of community. Everyone, aside from Reaper, pitched in to cook for each meal- it wasn't Reaper caught you staring with curiosity that he explained anything that wasn't grown in the greenhouse had to be 'found' by other means. It appeared when Reaper left the property it was usually to get his hands on transporting provisions and meats, you felt deep in your heart that he had the weight of the world on his shoulders knowing he alone was responsible for providing those that were trapped there with anything they may have needed from outside the castle walls. His somber face, although frightening, echoed emotions of worry the longer you talked about all the things he had to do to ensure the survival of everyone else.

Olivia must have seen the look in his eyes as well, she was quick to change the subject to something much more jovial. He continued to eat quietly, listening in on Olivia's loud explanation of the time she once robbed a corrupt nobleman blind and got away with it completely. 

It was strange to be sitting there next to Reaper, to glance over and catch his eyes watching you as well. There was still a tightness in your chest, a fear of him lunging across the table like an animal to slash at your throat, but the longer you sat there with fleeting images of him eating and picking between sharp teeth with his claws, the more absolutely mundane his unsettling appearance was beginning to become. 

After breakfast everyone, even Reaper, pitched in to take dishes to the kitchen and clean them. You offered your help, only for Amélie to insist that you were their guest and that Reaper should offer to take you on a proper tour of the castle instead to fill the time. 

"Would you show me the west wing?" You asked Reaper, who stood off to the corner watching everyone as they chipped in to clean the plates. His claws were adjusting the chin of his mask nervously, after eating he'd returned it to hide his face away once more. 

"What could possibly be enticing you to that terrible part of my castle?" His voice was grating and annoyed, but there was just the smallest hint of curiosity. 

"I want to know what secrets you're hiding in the tower where you don't allow anyone to go." You smiled mischievously, only to drop it as he crossed his arms tightly over his chest. 

"I am not hiding secrets." He hissed and dropped his arms with impatient tapping. "It's dangerous to wander around that section. That was the first place fighting broke out, the walls are falling apart, it smells of death. I've been meaning to start the repairs on it but I just- I haven't been able to find the time." 

"Even better. Seeing how it was left will help me understand what the battle was like." You tried to hold your confidence and reason with him, tried not to think about the burning red eyes covering his skin somewhere beneath his clothes. "I won't go wandering there without your permission, but it's something I'd like to see. Even if it's an ugly memory." 

He paused to consider it.

From the corner of your eyes you could see the others pretending not to eavesdrop, many with pursed lips and held breath awaiting his response- you knew they were listening to hear what he would have to say, you knew they would hope that Reaper would begin to show even the smallest amount of compassion and that there would be even the most minute chance that your fates would be bound together. He must have also realized they were listening in, you watched them wince and drop their tension held shoulders as Reaper groaned in response and fell forward to surround you. 

"You- no, _all of you,_ are to stay out of the west wing. If you want to stay and talk to us to fill your journal for your little stories you're welcome to, but that does not mean you can have the run of my home." He snarled as his body leaned over yours, his mask inches from yours. With a gasped breath, you pressed your hips against a countertop as you tried and failed to back away from him, his hands landed on either side gripping against the marble tops completely boxing you in. Up close and personal you could see his skin already repairing the gashes brought on by fighting omnics the night before, strings of skin curled over open wounds and you could see the muscles of his arms flexing as he settled around you. The sheer size of his muscular body was overwhelming, you could feel heat rushing straight to your cheeks as you remembered just how muscular he was beneath the flowing black shirt he wore.

Your mouth hung open, ready to protest. 

"Why don't we show her the library." Siebren frantically interjected at your side as you tried to lean away from Reaper's body pressing onto yours. "Or the greenhouse! Amélie and Olivia could show her the season's vegetables-" 

"I want to see the west wing." You insisted albeit with a wavering voice as you looked into the empty endless eyeholes of his mask. 

"Fate doesn't seem to favor what we _want_ , does it?" Reaper growled, looming above you.

"You're a brat." You spat back, refusing to let him scare you down despite the fact that you were shaking. "Just a spoiled brat refusing to share because you're afraid you feel something other than anger, you _want_ to be bitter and alone, you _want_ a reason to have people hate you."

You didn't need to see his face to feel the sinking in your stomach or the dread that ran cold through your veins. 

He scraped his claws against the counter, the screeching of metal against stone stopped everyone in their tracks. Siebren must have thought Reaper was going to attack you, he was the only one to rush forward to grab Reaper's wrist before the monster of a man ripped away with his hands in the air showing he did not intend any true harm. For a brief moment you almost through Siebren was going to fight Reaper, Siebren's glowing starry skull brightened with blue light as the palms of his hands, Siebren stepped between you and Reaper as he pressed a hand to your shoulder and you felt a rush of magic wash over you. 

"Is this how you wish to be remembered?" Siebren asked, his voice threatening as he spoke to Reaper. 

"I refuse to deal with her." He tossed his hands away and fell back to the door. "Explore the west wing if that is what you want, your death wish is none of my business." 

Reaper left with a door slammed behind him. His heavy steps echoed off the walls all the way to the front door where he must have gone to pace out front. It took a moment for Siebren's magic to leave you, he'd placed some sort of protection spell around your body that felt like ice covering your skin as it pulled away from you. Porcelain plates clinked against the countertops, cups to the metal of the sink as everyone finally moved to process the drama of Reaper's temper. 

"I do not know how many times I can apologize on his behalf before it becomes meaningless." Siebren spoke to you softly. "But I am sorry, nonetheless."

"I would actually like to see the library." You responded as you swallowed your voice. "If that's alright." 

"Of course." He looked to the others, their expressions hidden from you, you could only tell by his small smile that they nodded in agreement. "Maximilien, why don't you join us? You can tell us about the architecture and the statues." 

Off you went, hesitantly following the men up the stairs and through the dim castle halls all the while with your eyes turned to the windows wondering if you would catch a glimpse of Reaper wandering the courtyard. 

You felt terrible for what you'd said, your stomach twisted around and your mind continuing to beat you up for being quick to lashing words. 

No one, not even him deserved to feel as awful and abandoned as he did and here you come along and point out all the flaws that hit him right where it hurts the most. The idea of him all alone sulking away knowing his only chance at breaking the curse denounced him simply for his outwardly horrific appearance seemed beyond cruel.

As Siebren showed you the walls and rows of empty bookshelves, and Maximilien told you the price they paid for their most expensive gold statues, you found yourself lost in your own mind thinking of what you could say to apologize to Reaper in way that wouldn't make him think you were saying it out of pity. You couldn't focus on the piles of books that had been burned and destroyed in a long ago fight, you were left uninterested by the hand carved ladders that hung from gold rods spanning the length of the room.

They brought you through to sprawling offices where Maximilien once operated and he proudly opened a floor to ceiling steel vault where riches were once stored. 

"All of the gold and jewelry were looted by soldiers." He sighed, although it seemed strange to hear an omnic sigh. "They even took my favorite lapel pin." 

People came and went, joining your tour of the east wing as they all gave you little stories about rooms where they worked in or knew someone from the king's reign who lived there. By the time you made it back to the fifth floor, your head was practically spinning with information and overwhelming hospitality. They were all kind to you, it seemed almost ingenuine now that you knew they saw you as some sort of savior, but you would take their niceties over Reaper's anger any day. 

When you got back to your room, you found a stack of clothing left on your bed. Tops, pants, skirts, dresses, an array of clothes ranging from peasant to royalty that they must have pulled out of the deepest closet in the castle. Curiously, your own clothes you'd arrived in were still missing and you were genuinely starting to question where they could have ended up. You wiped sweat beading on your forehead, the heat of the fireplace was warming the room past a bearable temperature and you knew you'd only get warmer as you tried on the clothes that had been left for you. 

Knowing your room was high enough off the ground floor that no prying eyes in the courtyard would be able to see, and assuming Reaper would still be somewhere below doing his usual routine of failing to clean the courtyard, you pulled open your door to let in the cooling evening air and cycled through piece after pice stopping to examine yourself in your mirror.

Most things made you feel outright silly. Tie up corseted tops meant for high class nobles, flowing skirts that lifted far over your legs if you spun, ridiculously billowy shirts, dresses that were stitched in gold thread, and silk pants that slid over your skin- it seemed like far too much. You'd just put on a top that fell from either of your shoulders, black and held together by frills you were sure it must have been intended to be worn beneath a corset, you were twisting to look at the back and how it fell over your hips when you tucked it in at the waist of your pants when you heard shouting from the courtyard. 

Olivia's voice, it sounded like yelling at Akande who's boisterous low voice almost shook the windows. The racket drew you to the balcony door, they were somewhere below and it sounded like they were arguing about her having stolen something of his. At first you stepped out just to listen, but a strange feeling had you turning your head to look towards the tower over the west wing. 

Reaper stood in his bedroom window, backlit by yellow candlelight, clearly staring down directly at you. With Olivia and Akande arguing from a section closer to his tower, there was no mistaking that he'd been sitting at his ledge for quite some time before you caught him watching you. He must have seen your double-take, saw how you turned to look through the door to confirm if he had been looking in or if you were just assuming he'd been a pervert- but it was quite obvious the only place he could have seen in through your open door was right to the mirror where you'd been changing. 

Fuck apologizing for earlier, he owed _you_ one for watching you in the privacy your room- no, in the privacy of the _guest_ room.

As soon as he realized you'd saw him, his figure disappeared and he put out the lights in his room. 

With a sputtering huff and the background noise of the two arguing into the night beneath the balcony, you slammed your door shut and didn't even bother putting on boots or a jacket to cover yourself with. It appeared everyone had followed the argument outside, you were able to rush by the open front door without prying eyes as you ran up the twisting staircase. Trying to suppress your annoyance and your anger, you chewed at your lip as you ran through all the things you were ready to scream at him. 

Without heels stomping to the floorboards, your steps were almost silent as you finally reached the top and went straight for the cracked bedroom door to search for him. 

Completely ready to lecture him for the next few hours, you stopped with your fingers wrapped at the handle. 

What you didn't expect to see was Reaper unclothed and sat on the edge of his bed facing the window that overlooked your balcony. It was unnaturally dark, save for the white moonlight shining over the glass. At first you were sure if you were seeing what you thought you were, but there was no mistaking it. You froze in the cracked doorway, hidden in the dark of the hall processing the sight of a man pumping at his core as he was buckled forward gripping at the bedsheets. At that moment it felt as if you yourself had become a sentient omnic and were short-circuiting, your mind couldn't focus on any one thing other than staring in at Reaper huffing with every jerking motion.

Your entire body flushed with heat and all could do was stand there watch him until he fell hard with his back to the bed and his cock hard in his fist. With his mask off you could see the furrowing of his brows and the way his lips were curled in disgust.

With a prolonged groan, your name slipped through his lips and your knees almost gave out beneath. He snapped his eyes open to stare at the ceiling and pause in utter confusion that your name left him, his chest heaved with deep shaking breaths only for his hand to slowly continue with long strokes.

Your fingers slipped from the door handle. A man of his solitude, someone who'd been alone as long as he was surely must have had these needs, but it looked so utterly unnerving coming from a body with slowly healing wounds and monstrous eyes all over his skin. All in one you were creeped out and flattered, uncomfortable and yet fighting an ache growing between your thighs. 

He shouldn't have watched you change, but that much you could forgive for a man who'd been locked away from anything stimulating for years. You knew above all else you should _not_ have stood there watching him.

Instead you backed away slowly, keeping your eyes on his body as it disappeared behind the door while his hips lifted with desperate pumps. You tried to be careful with your step, tried to mind your footing, but as you reached to cover your mouth and felt the blush that burned at your face, you missed the first step of the stairs and came crashing down with a very heavy, very loud, and very obvious thud.

All at once you heard movement in his room, a rush of fabric and sharp gasps. 

"Reaper!" You called out from your seat on the stairs, rubbing at a spot on your leg that was sure to bruise from the fall. Now he knew you were there, now you had to play it off as if you hadn't seen what he'd been doing. "What the hell did you think you were doing looking into my room like that you creep?!"

"I-" He called out, beginning to defend himself only for you to hear the telling signs of someone holding back a moan. "Could we not do this right now-" 

"Fate bound together or not that doesn't give you the right to see me like that!" You yelled up the steps at him. You felt guilty, for as much as you were lecturing him, the begging between your legs to be touched had you almost giving into primal urges. 

"Leave!" He screamed, the urgency in his voice had you jumping up and gripping at the wall ready to run in the other direction. "I understand, just _leave!"_

You made a point of stopping all the way down the steps as you ran, ensuring he knew you were long gone so he could finish his business without the fear of you walking in on him. Your heart raced as you tried to regain your composure and ignore the questioning looks of passing people in the east wing. Back in your room, you laid in that enclosed bed and laid awake trying as hard you could to will away the dreadful feeling at your core that feverishly tempted you.

* * *

Reaper avoided you as much as possible for two days following his breeching of your privacy. You continued to sit at his side during meals, despite how he shy away and refused to look you in the eyes. He would go out to the courtyard and actually began to make a difference in the appearance as he burned stray piles of branches and pushed pieces of the fountains back into place, all the while actively avoiding you if you went out looking for him. 

You didn't mind. Having the space to move about without him breathing down your neck was nice, and in return you stayed out of the west wing. 

You spent those days sitting with the others in the castle, journal opened and ink at the ready as they told you all about their curses and the lives they'd been living until the attack began. It seemed strange that they all had this mysterious air to them, each working in parts of the castle or with people who would never be seen by ordinary folk. All with the exception of Amélie, who you learned lived in the west wing with the king's court where she was married to the man with the mustache in the mural you'd seen. 

Early one afternoon, you were sitting with Siebren in a lounging room testing out different flavors of tea he'd made using some of the herbs from the greenhouse. Reaper appeared at the doorway asking for him and they walked far enough away that you shouldn't have been able to hear them, but your curiosity peaked when you heard your name whispered down the hall.

"I want to show her I am not just some brainless monster." He had a hand pressed to his mask and his voice low. 

"You should do something nice for her." Siebren offered with simple advice. 

"Nice? Should I make her some of my drink again-"

"Oh, no, no-" Siebren reached for his shoulder and shook Reaper slightly with desperation in his whisper. "No, think of something kind to give another person you're interested in. I'm sure you can recall all the lovers you took in as king, what would you get them?" 

"There weren't many." Reaper growled in response before falling back to rest his shoulder's on the wall. "Besides, the kind of gifts they would receive are a bit out of the question now that I have no money and no power here." 

"Well, what's something she wants?" 

"Something she wants..." Reaper repeated after Siebren, his words dropping away as he thought. "Something-" 

He quickly lifted his head and knocked a loose fist against Siebren's chest as a weak form of a thank you. Within moments he was turned and heading straight back down the hall towards you and you scrambled to return to your seat next to Siebren's teas. He appeared in the doorway, notably missing his usual cloak and began undoing the gloves at his arms. You sat there confused in silence while your mouth burned with the taste of bad tea, he seemed like he was standing there waiting for you to say something but you just looked back with lifted brows. 

"Are you speaking to me again?" You asked sarcastically.

"Come with me." He pulled the gloves and the claws with them from his arms, then rested them over the back of a chair near the door. "I have something to show you." 

Siebren looked to you from over Reaper's shoulder, his expression just as interested as yours was. 

Wordlessly, you nodded and pushed yourself from the seat only to follow him through the halls and up into the west wing of the castle. He led you to oversized metal doors, they'd been shut tight for years with dust accumulating on the handles and rust beginning to show at the corners. 

"What is this?" You asked, unsure where he could be leading you in such a destroyed section. 

"This was my throne room." He mumbled as his fingers wrapped at the handles. 

As he pushed it open with a grunt, the first thing that hit you was the smell- rancid and reeking of blood, the bodies that were slain in the throne room had been dragged out close to a decade ago but the smell of death sank into the stone. You slapped a hand to your face, covering your nose and your mouth as your eyes darted to Reaper who seemed utterly unphased by it. Second was how dark it was and how it took a good amount of squinting and blinking to adjust your eyes from daylit halls leading to it. 

Pooled dark stains littered the ground, across a black patterned carpet and the hand placed marble. The room itself was massive, tall columns arched into domed points on the roof where cracked murals had fallen over time leaving the floor beneath a dusty mess. Curtains lined the walls with daylight almost completely concealed behind them. Flags that would have once lined the hall were torn with rips from weapons and bullets. One of the most gorgeous chandeliers you'd ever seen glittered from the center of the room where it hung onto life by the thin hold of a fraying rope.

It was dark, hard to see but you looked hard toward a throne sitting atop a platform on the other end of the room. Just a moment from asking if he had a candle, you turned to see Reaper grabbing at a thick rope dangling near the door. 

"This is where the slaughter of my men began."

You held back a gasp he pulled down hard against the rope and the curtains lining the walls flew open bathing the throne room in daylight for the first time in years. Dust lifted into the air and glittered as it fell to settle on the floor. His throne sat lonesome at the top of a small set of stairs. Other chairs surrounded his, all knocked over and broken. Even from a distance, you could see the incredible lavish detailing- black velvet surrounded by heavy gold, the chair was twice his size, which was mindboggling considering he was a hulky man on his own. Above his throne were massive black curtains being held open by gold statues of flying ravens and on either side stood tall candelabras. 

An unsettling feeling sank into your stomach. You didn't see him as the king, you never had really considered him as the man who ran the castle, you only saw the shell of what was left behind and it was near impossible to picture him sitting on the throne listening to his subjects day after day. 

"There is more behind the throne." He spoke with a bite to voice as he placed a long nailed hand gently on the small of your back. "But you must prepare yourself." 

"Prepare myself for what?" 

It was a grim silence from him. His hand slid away from you leaving it completely up to your own will to follow him through the massive hall and up the stairs towards his throne. He was careful with his movements as he pulled away one side of the heavy curtain, revealing a hidden door you would have never thought was there in the first place. Looking behind the curtain, you were confronted with the hard reality of what happened in that throne room. 

The door had been kicked off from its hinges, forced open from the inside. The wood of the door had been burned, blasted with some kind of weapon and around the handle were deep claw marks stained in red. 

"Right there where you're standing is where Jesse McCree stood to guard this door as the witch cast her final curse." He balled his fists at his side and dropped his head to look to the ground of the king's chambers. "He knew exactly what she was doing. I realized too late he'd been working with her behind my back. I was betrayed and bleeding out on this floor staring up at him wishing he would help, but he didn't try to stop her."

"No- that doesn't make sense-" You spoke beneath your breath, trying to remember everything Jesse told you that night you went home with him. 

"Jesse always has, and always will be selfish. If he can find a way to make himself benefit from a situation he'll flip on you without a second thought. I know how he is with women- charming and compassionate, trust me I even taught him some of the tricks he uses to distract someone from asking real questions. Don't blame yourself for believing him. I trusted him blindly because I expected- I only knew loyalty from him. To find out he'd been poisoning me so I would seek out help from the witch made me bitter. For so long I was sick and I didn't know why, I was getting weaker and my mind would cloud and become fuzzy-"

He stepped into the room, heavy footsteps creaked the floorboards until he stood in the center and you were forced to see the terror for yourself. 

Old dried blood everywhere. Being stabbed through the chest must have caused far more carnage than the scar could ever describe, it had sprayed over the walls and the ceiling and left a dark circle around his feet where he stood.

But that wasn't all. The transformation of man to monster took place there, panicked claw marks filled the walls and floor, not one piece of furniture remained intact, all having been smashed in and unrecognizable. Even the section of the walls which were stone had been destroyed, you could see where he'd body slammed his shoulders over and over in one spot trying to free himself from the room. 

"After King Morrison stabbed me, he left me there to die. I'm not even sure how long it was before Jesse and the witch found me, all I remember was how cold it was." Reaper paused to twist and look around the room before he continued his mumbling of a story he could barely piece together. "To his credit, Jesse did think I died in this room. The witch told him she was going to ensure I was no longer breathing while he guarded the door. After she cast her final spell, he ran through the castle gathering what was left of my men, valiantly rallying them to take the fight to villages being attacked and become the hero he always wanted to be seen as."

He turned to look at you, waiting for you to ask or to shutter in fear, but you were frozen.

"Jesse did not lie about everything, of course. He was correct that King Morrison and I disagreed on how to handle the inevitable omnic uprising that would plague the land. After the witch became part of my council however, things began to change rapidly. She convinced me to take up a secret council, one behind the kingdom's back that pulled power from all over the globe, people that were part of a much bigger network that I, unknowingly, became the leader of. I realized far too late that her manipulation was so she could control everything, she was puppeteering all of us by letting us think we had the power. Those are the people who are stuck here with me. The worst of the empires, the liars and cheats, thieves and tricksters, and I was the worst of them."

You were distracted. Distraught by the sight of the room. He seemed to understand that he was overwhelming you with his story, with the sights and smells of the moment his life changed forever. 

He stopped talking, giving you a moment to process the wreck before you. 

"It looks like it would have been... painful." You finally spoke as you touched one of the marks against the door, too afraid to step in. 

"Initially, it was." He found what he was looking for beneath some of the broken debris pushed against the wall. You watched with a held breath and a hand curled over your heart as he brought out the king's crown you'd seen in the painting. "Ah- it's been quite some time since I've seen this."

"Your crown has just been sitting down here all these years?" 

"I stopped being the king the moment I transformed into... this." He twisted it in his hands, inspecting the black onyx crown with tall sharp points and brilliant red rubies that still shined despite the layers of dust around them. "No need for a crown when you're no longer a king." 

His voice wavered with defeat. You wondered what horrible expression was crossing his face at that moment, if he was hiding his pain or if he'd accepted it. You were beginning to think the mask he wore was more for him, rather than a pleasantry to keep the people of the castle from being subjected to the gruesome hallows of his face. His mask seemed like a new version of a crown with which he could hide away every telling emotion and pretend like the fate of a monster wasn't heavy on his heart. 

There was a small moment where you almost wanted to say something to comfort him, something to appeal to the very human side that never truly dealt with the grief of losing everyone close to him at once but you were afraid to, afraid he would not understand your intentions and would once again fly off the rails. 

"I have a favor to ask of you, when you write about the people here, and when you share our story with the kingdom." He lifted his head, empty black eyes of his mask looking to you in a way that almost left you shaking. "Tell everyone I'm dead. Take this crown as proof, hand it King Morrison in trade for riches that will give you a comfortable life and let me live out the remainder of my time in solitude. I have no interest in facing a world that will only react to me the way you did."

"Reaper-" Your heart twisted in all kinds of different directions as he shoved the crown into your hands. "Wait, listen- I'm sorry about-" 

"Don't apologize." He growled and strong hands wrapped at your wrists. His voice asked for no sympathy, offered no mindful reassurance to soothe your broken ego after breaking his. "You gave me something I hadn't been given in years: brutal honesty. You solidified what I feared would be true, that I've become more beast than human and I know now that I never again want to have the hope of once again leading a normal life."

"That wasn't my intention." You said, your voice small and aimed down at a shining jewel centered on the king's crown. 

"Just promise me. Promise me once you leave this castle you'll tell the story of the slain king and not of the monster I became." 

"Okay." You breathed out as you lifted your heavy head. "If that's what you really want." 

"Good." He rested a hand at your shoulder, gently turning you to lead you out of the busted door. His voice switched to something far more optimistic, pushing past the stomach skinking feeling you were dwelling in. "Come, there is much more to show you. It's been years since I've seen the great hall where we used to hold feasts between royals, or the cellars and vaults. Where would you be most interested in visiting first?" 

"The great hall sounds fine." You looked to him with longing eyes, your fingers fidgeting with the crown. Anything sounded fine. He might as well have curled claws and sunk them deep into your heart, the tightness in your chest pitied him. 

"Don't look at me like that." He groaned as you began to walk with him through the throne room. "I'm at ease knowing where I stand with someone. For years I always held this secret fear of the person who held my prophecy, I was never sure if someone who could even be capable of loving me would ever appear, I thought maybe I was holding out hope for no reason. Now that you're here, now that I know curing my curse is off the table, I am... I don't know how to describe it, I feel more accepting of the curse than I have been since the moment I changed. I don't wish for you to look at me as if I'm some kind of injured animal." 

"Reaper-" You turned, in the heat of the moment you grabbed the front of his shirt and balled it in your fist as you stared up at an unfeeling mask. "I'm sorry about what happened to you. I feel terrible that I was the only hope you and everyone in this castle had after so long for breaking your curse. I'm giving you my word that I will do what you ask, not as a subject to your former kingdom or by swearing my loyalty to your court, but I need you to understand that my fear of you came from a place of shock. If we had just sat down and had a conversation- If you'd told me about the curse before-" 

"It's done. There's no reversing what you've seen. We made our choices and changed our own fates." His chest fell with deep breaths. Somewhere beneath all that he was still human, he needed food and air, and despite how much he'd tried to deny it and hide it, he needed companionship. "Now then, I'm taking you the great hall. It's three times the size of the dining room we eat in daily, you'll be mystified by it." 

He was pretending like nothing was wrong, like he wasn't bothered by you fleeing for your life after getting one glimpse of his face, but you knew there was a deep pain beneath his words he refused to surface.

Biting your tongue, you allowed him to lead you out the doors with his hand still resting on your shoulder. Beneath your feet old dried plants crunched, at first you mistook the blackened state of crumbs for fallen sections of the ceiling, but as you turned to look around you, you found yourself staring down at fragile petals and stems confused about the massive amount of dried flowers littering the throne room floor. 

"Why are there so many dead sunflowers?" You asked as you squinted down at the crunching beneath your feet.

"The road to King Morrison's castle is lined with sunflower fields. It is tradition for his army to pick one as they prepare for war, each one of his soldiers will wear one somewhere on their armor." Reaper turned away from you, his voice dropping as he turned a corner and his hand slid down your spine then lifted away. "I personally plucked the flowers from each of his men before I dragged their bodies to a mass grave." 

"Oh-" Your voice shook out, more of a gasp than anything as you tried to regain your composure. 

A tour of the west wing started with the king's crown and the deaths of hundreds weighing down the air. 

As you clutched his crown, you held your breath in fear of what else the west wing held in store for you. 


	11. Mean, Course, Unrefined

The great hall housed long tables the stretched the length of the room, half empty plates with rotted fruit remained tossed around along with once well used table cloths. Reaper made it a point to show you where he sat to eat when many of the people his court and his village would visit, you had to step over empty armor and dark stains to see the expansive room in all of its horrible glory. The massive wood tables were broken, beat down during the war as chairs were tossed through the rooms to soldiers who apparently had a difficult time fighting back. Black magic scars curled over the floor and walls with memories of the past that couldn't be forgotten. 

Down beneath the main floor, many of the cellars still held racks and racks of untouched wine and liqueurs, you followed him through unending rows of bottles which lived through the battle by being locked away behind stone doors. There were weapons vaults, armor vaults, wall after wall of tunnels where his army must have lined up ready to defend their castle and their king to the death only to meet a gruesome end as evident by the bloodstains lining the cracks of the floor seams. He led you through hallways, talked to you about the murals he'd destroyed in fits of rage, the flags and tapestries he'd torn through at awful memories.

The only place he did not allow you to wander was into the rooms of his former agents. You knew without a doubt, somewhere behind those locked doors were the rooms of the men you knew from the village. If you'd just been able to turn the handle, the gut feeling in your stomach knew you'd find Genji or Jesse's room waiting after years of decay and neglect, but you held your tongue and respected his wishes as his crown twisted in your hands. 

Room after room he led you, each with stories of death and loss.

Up and down the tower in sporadic thoughts as they came to him for which to visit next. 

It was downright exhausting. 

Your terrible tour of the west wing ended at large doors on the ground floor where he turned to you before opening them. 

"Now this room, the grand ballroom-" He chuckled as he swung open the doors and you were met with the expansive lavish room that took up the entirety of the bottom floor of the west tower. Rounded walls of marble were complimented by sweeping floor to ceiling windows overlooking the courtyard, their frames traced in gold along with every arch and column reaching high to the vaulted ceiling. "This was where I threw parties that would be talked about for years. Masquerades, imperial courts, hunt clubs, weddings, debutante balls even. We must have had events here every weekend for over a dozen years." 

"You were that involved in your villager's lives?" 

"My castle was completely open to them. Unlike King Morrison, I held no prerequisites for hosting at my home. I loved having everyone here, I loved protecting them and providing for them, I had a lot of pride for my kingdom and I wanted them to be proud of their king. I like to think they loved being here too, I know they had fun at least." He laughed to himself and trailed a finger over a layer of dust on the wall. "I wish you could have met Gérard. He made one hell of a wine that would have everyone in the room drunk before the sun would set." 

"Amélie's husband?" You asked as you walked with him through the ballroom. Curtains had fallen from their places, the rods that kept them up destroyed by time and fabric ripped from fighting. 

"The very one. You would have liked him, I think. Quick-witted, one of the sharpest minds I ever met, handsome as ever but I hated that hideous mustache of his. He could spend two hours waxing that damn thing down." Reaper picked up the edge of a curtain, fingers running over the heavy fabric as dust puffed into the air. "They met at one of my balls, actually. Amélie was an opera dancer specializing in ballet from the village just outside the castle walls and they were celebrating their closing night. Gérard wandered in and was just mesmerized by her, couldn't pull him away. I realize now how special it was that I was able to watch them fall in love. That's not something everyone is afforded." 

"It sounds like this was a special place for you, the ballroom I mean." You spoke through a caught breath. The pain in his voice was so evident, so clearly trying to stop himself from comparing their love to the one he could have had with you if he hadn't ruined his chance at it. 

"It is." He sighed and looked out the window. Dirt had caked on making it difficult to see clearly, but across the courtyard and sitting on the edge of a destroyed fountain, Olivia seemed to be practicing her magic to a rather unimpressed Amélie. "Perhaps it seems foolish, but I miss being able to feel as carefree as I was during those parties. I had no idea what was coming, the world changes so quickly." 

You stared out to the women playing with magic, standing at his side looking through the clear streaks between caked-on dirt as you chewed at your cheek.

Olivia's veins glowed purple, even when she used her magic to vanish from sight those veins remained and gave away exactly where she was. You watched her phasing in and out of sight only for you to be left unnerved at the sight of her branched out veins seemingly floating in the air. You cringed at the sight, but having Reaper at your side standing in a room that meant something to him took over a part of your heart you didn't know you could feel. 

Maybe it was pity, or empathy, but all you knew in that moment was how terrible you felt knowing the world weighed heavy on Reaper's shoulders. 

"It sounds like you were a good king. Someone that really cared for their people." You finally said as you turned to look at him as you gripped at the crown in your hands.

"Good kings don't let their people be burned alive in their homes." He spoke somberly without so much as a flinch. "Good kings plan for attacks from everyone, even their closest allies." 

"Even still-" You ran your fingers over the jewels of his crown, swallowing hard. "It's rare to find a king who cares so much about their people." 

"And look where caring got me." He turned to you with a sharp motion, there was something unwavering about the black emptiness in the hallows of his mask. It struck you, something cold and unfeeling, something undeniably mean. " _Look at what I've become._ Some lonely hack locked away in a tower with dead citizens, a castle of people who detest him, and a woman who not even fate can bind to him. Some king I am." 

"Bitter is a bad taste, Reaper." You snarled, unenthused by his self-deprecation. 

"You should learn to watch your tongue." He met you with the same tone. "You're the only visitor I've left alive. You should be thankful for that, your life is not guaranteed here simply because of a spell! Know that your status of walking among these walls freely can change at any time." 

"The things you've lived through gives you no right to behave the way you do." You warned as you shouldered past him towards the doors. "Every time I give you even the smallest chance to open up, even a sliver of sympathy, you always manage to find a way of making a point that you're a menace. Everything you do has to have this push and pull of anger and I am sick of it! You are not a monster because of the way you look, Reaper. You're a monster because the only thing you know how to do is to be cruel and rude. I have tried with you, I've tried to be patient and to give you a chance at just being decent for more than a few hours but it is _impossible."_

_"Then leave."_

"I will." You huffed as you threw the ballroom doors open. "As soon as I'm done talking to everyone, I'm leaving. You have my word." 

"Good."

"Good!" You yelled back before slamming the door behind you, leaving him all alone in that big empty ballroom to wallow in his words. 

You were so heated you didn't even realize you were still walking around with his crown. Your fingers were gripped tightly around it, face twisted and sour as you angrily stomped back through to the main halls and past the open doors of busybodies. Off you went, up the stairs all the way to the guest room in disbelief that someone could act the way he did so consistently. When you looked down to your hands and the crown against your palm you let out a sharp laugh to yourself, he sounded like a great king if you'd ever heard of one, but he sure as hell was nothing more than the whiny shadow of one now. 

Annoyed, you tossed the crown onto the shelf next to the witch's book and your almost complete journal. There it sat, a kings crown just at eye level and all you could do for far too long was stand there and stare at it out of absolute frustration. 

You pinched fingers at the bridge of your nose, trying to stop an oncoming headache when light knocking came from your door followed by Amélie timidly calling your name. 

"I don't want to talk about it right now, Amélie." You called out to the door, knowing you'd passed her in the halls.

"That's alright." Her soft voice responded. "I wanted to invite you to the baths. The gentlemen have offered to prepare all of dinner tonight, so we have some time to ourselves and... well whatever happened, soaking could help you relax, if you'd like." 

"Although we completely understand if you're uncomfortable being around us in the flesh, so to say. Just thought we'd offer." Olivia tacked on. 

You cracked the door, peeking at them from the thinnest opening you could manage and found they were carrying towels and baskets of soaps. Amélie smiled at you, her hair already tossed into a mess at the top of her head and Olivia had already wiped away her usual dramatic makeup. There was something you saw in them that you never could pull out of Reaper, genuine kindness and the want to help regardless of their situation.

"Where did you get all of those soaps?" You asked as you stared down at a wide variety of sizes and colors practically overflowing from the handbasket. 

"Maximilien made them. For a period of time he- well, he refused to believe he'd been transformed into an omnic and was trying find outlets for his denial." Amélie chewed at the corner of her lip. "They're very nice, though." 

Soaking beneath the hot water of that massive tub sounded great for your tired feet after walking through the west wing all damn day. With a small nod, you followed them through the statue lined arches into the fog of the bathroom. Every time you saw the tub you were still floored, calling it a tub was almost an insult as it was closer to the size of a pool and it still astounded you something like that would be found on a floor so high up in the castle. As you dipped beneath the water, sitting far across from them, you stretched out your legs and rolled your shoulders against the stone. 

While you sat with Amélie and Olivia, sinking down into steaming hot water up to your chin, you stared up at the ceiling and you wandering mind thought about the way Reaper would run his fingers along your spine when you'd move in the dark of the halls between rooms. He must have taken off his gloves to put you at ease, so you wouldn't be worried about the sharp talons at the ends of his fingers cutting into your skin, but you couldn't help flushing as you thought about just how intimate it was for him to bare his arms to you. 

"You've almost filled your journal." Amélie remarked as she ran soap through her long hair, whipping you out of your thoughts. "Does that mean you'll be leaving us as soon as it's complete?" 

"I don't know." You sighed and leaned your head back against the stone ledge of the massive bath. "There's still so much to learn, so much to correct. I want to write more, but I'd need another book and I'd probably have to head into town to get one-"

"Maximilien has blank ledgers you could use!" Olivia brightly exclaimed. "Leftover books he never got to fill, I'm sure he wouldn't mind lending you a few if you needed them." 

"Oh, I couldn't-" 

"We insist." Amélie splashed her hands into the water, her expression curling into hurt that you would even consider not taking them. "We all enjoy having you here. Even Reaper, as much as he'd love to deny it. Stay, we'll provide whatever you need."

"Amélie." You breathed out and scrunched your face in despair. "I appreciate it, but you know I have to leave eventually, don't you? You know that Reaper and I both agree despite the curse we're not meant for each other and I can't be the one to reverse the witch's spell. I don't want to give any of you false hope by staying here." 

"Of course." She responded softly. "You have a life outside of the castle walls, I know this. Love takes time and effort, it's nothing that comes as easy as fate binding two people together. I never intend to pressure you, really I don't." 

"It's just been nice to have a new face is all." Olivia leaned her head on Amélie's shoulder, the purple magic glowing in her eyes shined through the steam of the bath back at you. "Everyone has been so much more lively since you've been around. Even Akande has cracked a smile at some of your jokes and I've been trying to get him to smile for years." 

"Even when I leave I hope you know I'll be back." You tried to smile at them as you ran water over your neck and shoulders. "If nothing else, just to catch up with you two. I wouldn't be gone forever." 

They sat across from you, each with their eyes turned to the water not knowing what to say. Completely exposed and yet entirely wordless was a feeling you never expected when you first entered the castle doors. Amélie lifted her head, lips turned to a small forced smile before he pushed herself through the water to sit next to you, her yellow eyes were kind and glossy, she had this air about her that pulled at your heartstrings. 

"We ask for nothing more." She leaned toward you and kissed you lightly on the cheek bringing up a light blush to your face. "Would you braid my hair? Olivia does such a lazy job-" 

"You're the one with the hair that goes down to her butt." Olivia protested from across the bath. 

You appreciated the offer to get out of the previous conversation, Amélie had a knack for knowing when to put aside a subject and her offer to braid her hair was one of sympathy not of actual necessity. Regardless, she parted her wet hair into three sections and waisted with them between her fingers for you to starting crossing them one over the other until a braid formed loose at the back of her head. 

"Can I ask you both something that I've been thinking about?" You started timidly as your fingers slipped between Amélie's hair. She turned to glance at you over her shoulder and nodded, Olivia hummed in response as she ran soap over her face. "The other visitors you've had, what happened to them? What did Reaper... do to them?" 

"I'm not sure you really want to know that." Olivia responded before spitting out bubbles of soap that washed over her lips.

"Akande would know more, he-" Amélie sighed deeply and hugged her arms to her chest. "He has always been the one to help clean up the mess Reaper leaves behind." 

"It's that bad?" You asked breathlessly. 

"I would compare it to the attack of a wild animal. He knows what he is doing but he's blinded by rage or this thirst for death that can not be amended until the body is... unrecognizable. It is horrific and I do not wish for you to ever, _ever_ , experience seeing him in that way." Olivia wiped at her forehead, you could see the gloss over her eyes. "It wasn't bad, at first. The wanderers we would get would be similar to you, someone lost and looking for a place to stay but then the people who came were robbing us blind, destroying our garden, leaving us to fend on nothing more than scraps. His trust in strangers became paranoia and outright hatred. Some travelers wouldn't even have the chance to defend themselves, Reaper would kill them before he even knew their intentions." 

"Particularly those who hailed from King Morrison's land." Amélie tacked on.

"As difficult as he is, Reaper is fiercely protective of us." Olivia said. "Of you, too." 

You sucked in your cheeks as you continued with Amélie's long hair. He did protect you with his own life, he gave you his crown to ensure you would never have to worry about providing for yourself again, deep down he was incredibly protective and still looking out for the people he surrounded himself with and you felt that.

In the calm of the moment you almost opened your mouth to say something nice about him, but just then you heard Reaper's voice calling out your name from the archway at the hall. Amélie and Olivia looked to each other in shock, then to you as you perked your head into the air and stared at the door wondering if he was going to have the gall to step into a washroom without asking.

"I just have something to say to you, are you in there?" He asked from the hall, his voice aimed directly through the door. 

"What do you want right now, Reaper?" You asked with a bite to your words.

"I... I wanted to say that I'm sorry. You're right, I know you're right that I've been my own undoing and it's been terrible for me to confront that." He paused as you did. Your hands still curled into Amélie's hair, you all sat still in the bath listening to him. "I have no right to ask, but give me one more chance to show you I'm still the type of king you think I was. I want you to remember me as that man, not as the one who is quick to anger and demands you eat with him. I want to be the person who can be called out for my awful behavior and actually change. I don't- I don't want to be your villain."

You were shocked. The air seemed heavier than before, steam stilled around you and your chest opening with deep long breaths. Amélie turned to face you, there was something in her eyes that told you she was thankful to hear him, a happy disbelief that translated to her sobbing out a smile before she pressed her hand over her lips. 

"Did you hear me?" He asked, not demanded with his usual commanding voice. 

"I heard you!" You responded, still in surprise. "I heard you, I promise. I- I think I just need a moment to think. Is that okay?" 

"Yes, yes of course." He sounded almost nervous. There was a long pause, so long you almost thought maybe he'd left but then you heard his voice once more. "Will you be joining us for dinner?" 

"I will." You smiled and finished Amélie's braid. "May I sit next to you still?" 

"Please." He was smiling too, you could hear it. 

_Why the hell did he make you feel like this?_

You could blame the curse, you could tell yourself your heart was pulling towards him just because fate wanted you two together, but whatever it was had you blushing and sinking into the water to hide your cheeks from the women in around you in the bath. Reaper called out something that you couldn't hear with your ears beneath the water, but you waited until you could feel his footsteps leading far off down the hall to pop back up and face the wondering eyes of Amélie and Olivia.

Excusing yourself from the bath and rushing back to your room- _the guest room-_ to prepare yourself for dinner was a blur. 

You dressed in something simple, a pale green gown meant for everyday wear by nobles that fit you in just the right places. You told yourself you weren't dressing for him, you were dressing for yourself and because it felt nice, but there was still a small part of you that hoped the king beneath the mask would smile at the sight of you. 

You chewed at the corner of your lip wondering how someone who pissed you off so much could possibly make your heart feel so twisted around inside. 

By the time dinner rolled around, you were escorted to the dining room with Olivia and Amélie at your sides. They walked with you down the stairs and through the doors leading into the room beneath the stairs, and you found Reaper was setting the table himself with not only your place next to his, but everyone else sitting closer than they usually did. 

"Thank you, for the kind things you said earlier." Reaper said quietly as he pulled your chair out for you to sit. "I have a hard time seeing past the bad to the things that have gone right in my life. I carry a lot of guilt for what happened to my people and I take it very personally, but you're right, I am in control of my response and I need to choose to handle the memories of that differently." 

"Good people sometimes do shitty things, and in retrospect, shitty people can do good things." You lifted yourself slightly as he pushed the chair in beneath you. "You are fundamentally a good person, Reaper. Don't forget that." 

"I am trying my best not to." He sighed as he sat at the head of the table. 

One last chance. You were going to give him one final chance to prove he was human after all. 

That night as you ate he removed his mask and you saw the faintest hints of a smile when he would sneak glances your way. Every now and then your knees would knock together and by rejecting your initial instincts to jerk away, you would allow your legs to press together beneath the table. Over the main course, Siebren regaled the night a star system was visible above the castle in the night sky. You laughed and you drank with everyone as they lifted their chalices into the sky and toasted to infinite knowledge. 

All the while, Reaper's ungloved hand slipped beneath the tablecloth and his palm rested at your knee. The initial touch made your heart jump into your throat, you almost spit out your drink, but when you looked into his eyes and recognized the longing of man who only wished to feel close to someone after years of pushing people away, you let your hand fall beneath the table as well and the backs of your fingers played along his.

Your heart skipped a beat, then another as his fingers interwove with your own. 

Even as you stared at his gruesome face, you could feel the squeezing at your heart, the telltale sign of growing closer to someone you wished you weren't. You stared at him, at his cheek open to the teeth and the strings of skin covering bone. His monstrous eyes looked back at you, black with burning red centers they watched you carefully as his true eyes stayed on Siebren and his story. He was hideous and ridiculous, yet chiseled and handsome in way you couldn't quite put your finger on. 

You wanted to figure him out, but you were terrified to. 

"A toast to our guest." Amélie raised her glass to you at the end of the night, after dessert and just before everyone was off to bed taking you out of your staring contest with his red eyes. "For being so close to finishing and for putting up with the insanity that occurs on these castle ground in the meantime." 

"And for a final chance." Reaper interrupted softly as he raised his own glass to you, the hand beneath the table locked with yours squeezed you softly. "To new and better memories." 

"To new friendships." You lifted your own and acknowledged the glasses raised to the air. 


	12. Never Looked At Him That Way Before

You woke before the others the next morning, the morning sky was still dark and the embers of the fireplace faintly glowing beneath a pile of ash. Blushed cheek against your pillow, you buried your face against silk at the memory of a dream where you were moaning beneath a shadow of a monster. Ghostly heat trailed along your sides as you twisted in bed, you whined at yourself begging your mind to stop picturing Reaper dropped against the edge of his bed whispering out your name. 

The world felt upsidedown, being in that castle was making your mind wander to places where the abnormal became far too normal. 

You needed a distraction. 

Even though it was the wee hours of the morning, you cracked open your door to find the one across the hall wide open. Inside, Maximilien sat in front of a low burning lamp reading out of a thickly bound book. He was down to his nightclothes, not that an omnic body would need them, but he rested his chin heavy against a fist curled beneath his head as he flipped through pages. You tied the top layer of a nightdress over your shoulders and whispered into the hall.

"Still awake or up early?" You asked him. He turned to you, surprised to hear anyone's voice at that hour. 

"Up early." He responded, his voice was always so gentle and with the hint of a smile. "What wakes you this morning?" 

"Can't sleep." You shrugged in response. 

"Come in, have a seat with me." He offered as his hand motioned to the chair at his side. "I'd appreciate the company." 

If there was anything you enjoyed about the lavish furnishings of the castle, it was that no matter where you were the seats were always comfortable. Maximilien's room in particular had two oversized lush chairs with unusually low backs that curled in an elegant spiral against the backrest of the chair. They were red, just like his omnic eyes and the magic that shined on his forehead in a series of dots, but they were soft and easy to sink into as you pulled your legs to your chest and threw a lap blanket over your knees. 

"How did the west wing look?" He tried to sound coy, but he was obviously curious. 

"Probably about as well as the last time you saw it." You rolled your eyes to the side and found his wardrobe was open with all sorts of fancy suits and weaponry. "He showed me his throne room first. That was... pretty bad." 

"I believe it, the fight there was particularly gruesome." He stopped with his finger to a word on a page. "Although, that was not the fight I was witness to so I have no room to speak on it." 

"Where were you during the battle?" 

"Locked away in my office. I barricaded the door, but that witch came in and attacked me." It was always so bizarre to hear the emotion in his voice and not see any chance on his omnic face. "I'm sure you read all about what she cursed me with. I doubt you want the grim details of that day from my eyes." 

"No, by all means-" You breathed in with a small smile, as much as it hurt to probably talk about it, you were happy he was comfortable enough to share. "Please, if it's alright, I would be honored to hear it." 

"Oh-" He nervously played with the pages of the book before lifting his head to turn toward you. "Well, just as everyone else was, that day I was going about my normal duties when we felt this terrible thunder of King Morrison's army approaching through the forest. Back then the trees were all alive, so it was hard to see who exactly was coming. King Reyes ordered us all to our stations as he watched Morrison approaching, I think he knew something was about to happen but he didn't foresee the severity of it, otherwise he would have ordered us to retreat in stealth. I spent most of that day looking at Morrison's men through the library windows. The castle is so big that I didn't hear the slaughter until they were already in the east wing." 

"Were there others with you? In the library?"

"Yes. So many good people." He slumped against the backrest and stared down at the book in his hands. "My staff, I'd personally hired each and every one of them. It was a handful of us, some who worked on the books with me, others collectors for the king's wealth, artists, poets, ledgers. Together we toppled one of the heaviest bookcases and tried to push it to the door, but we were not fast enough. Morrison's men burst through the doors and began killing any person they found. I would have been murdered too, but Moira, the witch, she came through behind them and when I first saw her I thought she was going to save everyone. Instead, she used her magic to crush in the skulls of those who were attacking, and left blades to impale my people. She told me she had a fate worse than death planned for me. I escaped into my office at the back of the library, but it was there that she cornered me and I could do nothing as she cast her spell." 

"Being turned into an omnic is a fate worse than death?" You questioned. Omnics were frightening and confusing beings, but you never considered becoming one as worse than losing your life.

"For me, yes." His voice was low and so incredibly angry. "You see, Moria and I had a bit of business behind the king's back. We were helping that idiot up in the mountain create his army of mindless omnics. I gained the monetary side of it, she had some kind of magic deal out of it. The man was an absolute nutcase, he experimented with all types of omnics until he finally created the ones that seemed to not have any thoughts at all, they only listened to orders, but then there was the question of what to do with the ones who were sentient and, well- We couldn't just let them go. I already had a hatred for their kind after an army of omnics rampaged through my village years and years ago. I suppose I was... crueler than I should have been because I enjoyed watching the light leave every single one of them." 

"You tortured and killed omnics behind the king's back and worked with the witch?" Your jaw was practically on the floor. 

"That I did, and you see, she wasn't particularly fond of me fessing up to King Reyes just days before Morrison's attack. I knew she was angry, but I underestimated how angry." 

"I'm surprised you stayed in the castle after telling him."

"I wasn't completely honest with him in the beginning, in fact I blamed her for everything. It was only after we realized we were stuck here and that he could not kill us because of her curse that I fessed up to it." He tapped his fingers against the pages. "He and I were able to move past our differences after a discussion of the... transformations we went through. They were each incredibly painful in their own regard, I was unable to stand as my bones broke and my skin hardened to metal. She knew I would rather be dead than become this hideous thing I am, and she knew I would never accept this body. That's the more terrible part, as soon as I do accept it, the curse will lift and I will be forced to accept a human body again." 

"Damn." You whispered to yourself, you'd spent so long thinking only of Reaper's curse that the idea Maximilien suffering in that way shook you to the hallows of your heart. 

"Although, I suppose I should count myself lucky. Breaking my curse is entirely up to me, unlike Reaper's which relies on the feelings of another." 

"Still, I don't think that makes it easy." You gripped into the blanket, your lips bit with worry. 

Maximilien and Reaper had more in common then you would have thought, you now understood why they weren't particularly friendly with each other but also why there was always a silent sense of understanding between them. They were each trapped and alone, yet surrounded by others always who would never be able to fully understand their daily struggles. 

With a small sigh, Maximilien shifted in his seat. 

"Is it alright if I am completely honest with you?" He brushed the backs of metal fingers against your wrist, catching your attention. You nodded and held your breath before he pulled away. "Many of the people in this castle believe the words of a man who practiced vodou. That man was desperate to escape this castle by any means possible, even before we all had these spells cast upon us, a man named Augustin was researching magically methods to escape us. He told Reaper at his most vulnerable time that one day a person would arrive who would be capable of falling in love with him, that there would be that only person who could break Reaper's curse. Clearly I myself am not a magic user, so I could be wrong- but I knew Moira and her the capabilities of her magic, I knew her _limitations_. I knew her habits. She was meticulous in her notes and she would have _never_ left something like that out of her work."

"And what, you think he told Reaper this just to give him hope? Why would he do something like that?" 

"In my opinion, he told Reaper as a _distraction_." Maximilien could have been snarling if he had expressions. "Within days he had Reaper sulking around, no longer breathing down his neck and Augustin was able to conjure his own spell to break out of Reaper's curse. He left us behind to suffer our fates and for that reason alone I doubt his heart was in the right place. Everyone else believes him because they only want to see what they want to see, but I cannot buy into it." 

"I see." You played with the frayed end of a seam on the blanket over your lap.

"I mean no offense by telling you this, I hope you understand." He clarified. "I fully believe he is capable of being loved, of course. I simply am not one for believing the grand romantic idea of true love tied by fate."

"That's alright." You tried to smile, finding your heart was somewhat hurt even though you knew you had no right to feel that twisted around by it. "Really, I appreciate your thoughts, Maximilien. Thank you for sharing. It means a lot to me that you're willing to talk about it, even when the stories aren't pretty. I hope you find your own peace someday, despite how awful your curse is."

You stayed with him a while longer. He read to you from the book he'd been perusing through, from what you could gather it was once a comprehensive guide about fighting omnics and yet he seemed to be picking out all the pieces pertinent to living as one. With a long morning stretch and a yawn of a goodbye, you set back off into your room and tried to write what you remembered of his conversation with you into your journal. 

Unsure of your plan for the day, you changed into Siebren's shirt and the pale blue pants you were most comfortable in. It was still dark, everyone else still sleeping, but you wandered through empty castle halls as the sun began to rise for the day. It wasn't until you found yourself tiptoeing through the west wing with an idea washed over you and you made the firm decision to do something nice for Reaper. 

It might have been a bad idea so early in the morning, the noise you made was an absolute production as you made your way through the halls and all the way to where you rightfully thought you wanted to be. You were clattering with things, knocking others over in the flicking lamplight, each time something would slip out of your hand you would suck in a sharp breath and turn your eyes towards the stairs expecting to see Reaper's large shadow looming over you. 

You were all set up in the ballroom. You carefully leaned a ladder against the wall just above the tall windows and set aside the buckets you'd filled with water as you pulled open what curtains could still be moved from covering the windows. Since the end of the room curved where it met the bottom of the largest tower, you stood there looking through dark windows with your hands on your hips wondering where the sun would hit the glass first. Your plan was to clean them, the first step in a bigger one, and you needed to make sure you wouldn't be blinded while you stood on the top rungs only to fall to your death and become just another statistic to the castle. 

Not even a few minutes after settling with everything you needed, you heard feet shuffling into the room and an exasperated huff of air.

"What are you doing down here?" Reaper asked as you turned to look at him over your shoulder. He was in a wrinkled pajama shirt that fell loose around his core and undone pants which rested low on his hips, seeing him standing there in such casual dress while his mask remained on stirred around something in you that you couldn't ignore. He gripped at the doorframe, his nails grinding at the wood in annoyance. "All this noise and the sun hasn't even come up yet. I almost attacked you thinking someone was looting the place!"

"I'm cleaning." You motioned to the flimsy ladder you'd managed to carry in yourself. He stared back at you in silence, his white mask leaving you unnerved and anxious as you wondered if he was pissed off or asleep beneath it.

 _"Why?"_ His tired voice croaked.

"When you brought me through the west wing this was the one room that had only good memories." You turned to look at the windows, the glass was fuzzy with years of dirt and dust and you ran a finger over it to show him the line it left behind. "I thought that fixing it up might be a decent thank you for letting me stay here so long. I want to leave a parting gift that means something to you... to everyone." 

"Cleaning all this by yourself would take a lifetime. I used to have teams in the hundreds that would take care of this castle, what makes you think you can fix it up completely by yourself?" 

"I'll do what I can. Starting with the windows, then polishing the gold, cleaning the chandeliers. I'll even scrub the floors. With your help I could even fix the curtains-" You paused as you played with your fingers nervously. "If you wanted to."

"I..." He lifted his head, looking to the tall windows and the top of the ladder. "I've always had someone cleaning the inside of the castle for me, I don't know how much help I could truly be." 

"Now is as good of a time as any to start learning." You tried to remain optimistic, tried to suppress the initial gut feeling to roll your eyes that a king had never cleaned his own castle before. "Come on, grab a rag." 

You reached into the bucket and brought out a soaking cloth, you watched him carefully gauging his reaction as he looked around the room before you tossed it at him. He had fast reflexes, he grabbed the rag quickly and water splashed over his mask before even realized he'd caught it. 

Hiding a laugh as you realized just how ridiculous it was that you threw a cleaning rag at a king, you reached into the bucket to bring your own before turning and carefully stepping up the ladder. 

"It's not as bad as it seems." As you began to climb, you looked through the glass. Sunrise was glowing over the sky with storm clouds hanging above, the ladder shook with your steps. "If you're going to help me you better suck it up, I don't want to hear any complaining, _your highness."_

"Do _not_ call me that." His voice was threatening, harsh even, but he raced forward and reached for the bottom of the ladder to hold it in place as you climbed high above him. "You don't want to at least wait to get started until after breakfast?" 

You laughed and shook your head as you began scrubbing the glass at the top, they were filthy and it would take days and days of work to clean them but you felt invigorated with a new sense as you cleaned away. 

It wasn't long before he relented and you had a system going, when you needed a new rag, Reaper would catch it if you dropped one and he'd send one back up as he held the ladder. You may have missed catching one once or twice for the satisfaction of watching him try to catch it as it fell back down. 

You stayed up near the top of the ladder as rays of sun began beaming through cleaned streaks and you were finally able to see clearly through the glass. Mostly working in silence, Reaper would occasionally attempt to make small talk that would fizzle out with empty questions of how your journal was going and about his progress on cleaning the courtyard. 

Things felt okay, for the first time in Reaper's presence since stepping foot in the castle you felt a sense of calm as the morning sun poured in through the windows. 

Happy to have such a calm start to the day, the last thing you expected to see was the dark clouds outside twisting into something far more sinister. 

Were those black clouds an incoming storm or were they the everpresent fear of a curse keeping you at the castle?

There was a pulling from deep within your stomach, one that gripped into your core and threatened to take you to the floor. A sudden wave of nausea, a rush of anxiety that froze you in place. You'd stopped cleaning, dirty water was dripping down to the floor far below as the rag stayed gripped loosely in your fingers and you could hear Reaper asking something but his words were unclear. The longer you stared out at the clouds the further his voice became, your head was wrapped in a tunnel and your vision zeroed into a bright burning yellow light twisted around within the storm clouds. 

Your body was frozen, your heart was racing against your chest knowing you were in danger as you stood at the top of a ladder gripped with only one hand holding on for dear life, but you were no longer in control. Staring at the skin of your arm where you'd pushed your sleeves up, you could the long nails of someone dragging over you sending bone chilling shivers through your nerves, the discoloration of claw marks left you drained as they appeared with no hand to be seen causing them. 

**_"Your final warning."_ **A woman's voice curled into your ears and hooked claws at the back of your brain. **_"Leave Overland."_**

"Reaper-?" You asked weakly, unsure if your mouth was even moving. Your head felt dizzy, clouded and lost in a sea of black smoke. Your knees were going weak, fingers going numb. 

Far below you there was a splat of a wet rag hitting the floor as your neck dropped back and your eyes fluttered shut. 

Your heart flew into your throat as you slipped from your footing on the ladder, tingling shot from the bottom of your foot up through your nerves and all the way to the base of your skull as you were blinded by a spike of fear that you were falling to your death and suddenly your body was sliding down the front of the ladder. Somewhere below you, there was a panicked gasp and all at once your body and mind snapped back into a terrible reality.

You came to an abrupt stop as the toes of your boots caught the ladder steps once again and a hard chest pressed against your back. Reaper stopped you from falling all the way down by pinning his body against you and for a few brief moments, all you could hear was his heavy, fast breathing. He'd dug his nails into the window frame to catch you before you fell straight to the floor and all that remained as he pressed you there was creaking of ladder beneath your bodies. 

"Are you alright?" He asked short through breaths. 

"Fine." You responded as you gripped far too hard against the edges of the ladder and anxiety still coursed through your veins. 

It took some time for your mind to catch up with your body, far too long for you to realize his body was nothing but hard muscles and hot breath pressed against yours. His arm was at your side, nails sunk into the window frame holding both of you in place as his other arm wrapped at the ladder and gripped with a tight fist into your shirt from the front. So close together, you could feel the heat from his body and each gasped breath as his mask pressed to the side of your head. There was a stirring in your chest, the knowing feeling of panic that surrounded you- he didn't have to say anything to know he was deathly afraid of having you fall.

It took just a little too long for him to come to his senses and loosen his grip on you. You held tightly to the ladder rungs as he pried himself away. 

"Be more careful." He demanded with a worried voice. 

"Don't tell me what to do-"

"Why would you try to argue with me right now-"

"Get off of this ladder right now-"

"I am trying to help you down-!"

"Get off!" You yelled over your shoulder, your voice shaking as you flushed at the fleeting feeling of his hips pressed to your lower back and the curve at the front of his pants hardened as you stood there in his arms. 

In an instant, he was sliding down the ladder and coming to a loud thud at the bottom. You scrambled down, uncaring if he'd jumped out of the way or not as your pulse raced and the bottoms of your feet buzzed with anxiety from your initial fall. He gave you just enough room to stand on the ground, only moved far enough for you to turn and be chest to chest with him, you lifted your head to look to his emotionless mask and in a fit of spiked anger you slapped at his abs with the back of your hand. You wanted to be mad at him for holding you so close, for having his arms around you like a lover, but you were quick to recognize that he likely didn't have much of a choice as he caught you from falling down the ladder.

"Why are you upset with me?" He asked as he grabbed your wrist loosely. "You're the one who slipped." 

"I-" You didn't have a valid explanation and you knew it as soon as you opened your mouth. Your face twisted with a confused expression before you jerked forward and wrapped your arms around him in a tight hug, forcing a hug that had him lifting his arms into the air surprised by your intense response. "There was a voice, a woman's that I've heard before." 

"A voice? What did it say?" He slowly lowered his arms around your shoulders, careful hands rested still unsure if you wanted him to hug you back. 

"Leave Overland. She always tells me to leave this place." You squeezed him, refusing to look up as you buried yourself there against the opening of his shirt and pressed your flushed cheeks to his chest hair and a couple of monstrous eyes that could surely see how embarrassed you were. 

He snarled and held you as his mask pressed to the top of your head. 

You could feel he was blaming himself, with every squeeze around your body he would tremble and hold you closer and it occurred to you as you stood in his arms- you were probably the first person in years to hold him in that way. 

"When I was traveling through the forest the night I came here, I was heading for King Morrison's castle to meet with a witch who could supposedly remove a curse from someone." You spoke softly as your fingers curled at his shirt. "I've been having these visions, these fainting spells from the very first day I landed here and I don't know what I'm going to do if one happens when I'm alone and in a precarious place like I was just now. Thank you for being here Reaper, thank you for saving me."

"While you're behind my walls I will protect you." He spoke so quietly, you almost didn't understand his words behind the mask. "You're experiencing terrible side effects because of my own curse, I am responsible for you and I will see to it that you are safe." 

Was it his own curse? After your conversation with Maximilien that morning, you were questioning the very idea of his curse. It did seem odd the storm arrived with you, it did make your heart skip a beat at the thought of him holding back after killing other intruders on sight, but there were questions you couldn't answer. The voice that raged in your ears during panicked moments, a death flower suddenly producing pollen when everything else around you died, but most of all, it was the idea of Reaper's curse affecting you before you even knew he was still alive, before you ever had a chance to step foot in the burned dirt of his former kingdom. 

Whether it was dumb luck or really was fate that you ended up in his castle, you stayed there in his arms holding tight as your body came down from the adrenaline of rushing from such a height. 

"Would you have breakfast with me?" You asked against his chest, your eyes fluttered open to find monstrous glowing red staring straight back at you, wide and waiting. "With just me. I want to sit with you and hear you talk about this room some more." 

"I'm sure you don't really want to hear some old man's stories about his better years-" 

"Wait, hold on-" Your lips lifted in a small smile, your mind trailing off as you brought a hand to his chest and hovered your finger in front of one of the red eyes staring back at you. "Can you actually see out of these?" 

"Not in the same sense that you would see out of your eyes." His voice perked up with hints of confusion. "They tend to look where they want, I have little control what they stare at, but what they can see I am able to comprehend. It's very useful when I am walking through the dark halls of this wing, I may not be able to physically see obstacles in front of me, but I can sense everything in the room." He paused and allowed his arms to slide down over your shoulders slowly, pulling himself away as he looked down to you and the eyes at his chest. "Are you afraid of them?" 

"At first I was, yes." You answered honestly before stepping back to give him breathing room. "Really, I'm sorry for how I reacted when I saw you... Also I am so sorry that I was there after you'd, um, well- after you'd bathed, that must have made you incredibly uncomfortable-"

"I didn't mean to watch you changing-!" He blurted out. "I mean- I think that makes us even, if we can call it that." 

"Agreed." You laughed to yourself and stuck out your hand, waiting in the air for him to shake it. "For the rest of my time here let's just move past that and focus on fixing this place up together." 

"That sounds wonderful." He chuckled as his hand grasped around yours where he paused with calloused fingers curling around your hand. "Once it's done will you be leaving?"

"I will be." Your voice was softer than intended, the feeling of his hand around yours was making you blush and there was nothing you could do to hide it. "I think I've worried everyone enough by disappearing for so long."

"Then before you leave we'll throw a ball. Amélie would love to host one, I'm sure, and it would give us a chance for a proper goodbye." He wasn't even shaking your hand, your heart was beating in your throat as you realized you were just standing there with his hand in yours. 

"I couldn't ask you to go through all that trouble-" 

"I insist." He slipped fingers between yours and it was as if your heart fell to the floor. 

"Okay." You smiled through a breath. "Okay, but first, breakfast." 


	13. True, He's No Prince Charming

Reaper asked you to make his plate while he prepared a spot for the two of you to eat a secluded breakfast. You made small talk, avoiding the questions of where you'd be heading off to with him as you made your rounds at the table and left everyone to wonder why you were suddenly eating alone with the man you'd once refused to even be in the same room as.

He appeared to help carry plates and guided you out backdoors to the murky lake that sat behind the castle, he'd dressed back in his usual battle-ready outfit including the cloak that moved around so dramatically behind him. 

Just out of the door there was a trail, overgrown and rocky between tall grass that he led you down until he reached a pavilion hidden behind trees that overlooked the mossy water. The structure of the pavilion had seen better days, wood was rotting on the sides holding it up, roof shingles were missing, the candelabra that hung from the ceiling was bent and twisted either from wind or war but the view was breathtaking. He'd cleaned off an iron table and pushed it to the fence lining the pavilion where it sat overlooking the small lake. From that angle, you could see the back of the castle in all its massive glory, as well as a lush overgrown garden that hadn't been tended to in years. 

"I had no idea this was out here!" You exclaimed as you sat across from him. 

"We don't often come out back." He poked a fork at eggs and carefully unlatched his mask to pull it away, setting it at the side of his plate. His eyes turned to the overgrown garden, where he stared with a long look. "Just past that garden is where I buried most of my men. Amélie visits her husbands gave twice a year, once on the anniversary of his death, the other on the anniversary of their marriage, but other than that, I think I am the only one who ever visits that section of the grounds."

There you were thinking you were going to have an easy, light conversation with Reaper over breakfast. His oversharing left you silent as you picked at your food. 

Beneath the table, his long legs stretched in your direction. He nervously chewed away and you felt his ankle rubbing against yours, testing to see if you'd move your leg. For a brief moment your heart fluttered, but the truth that you'd be leaving in just a few more days weighed heavily on your shoulders and you found yourself curling in over your plate. He took the hint and his leg backed away, he leaned his elbows on the table and stared out over the lake while he ate to distract himself from your silent rejection. 

"You asked for my favorite party I ever threw in the ballroom." He reminded himself before his eyes turned to you. 

"I did." You agreed with a smile and nod. 

"It was a masquerade, one where everyone was asked to wear the mask of an animal." He tapped his finger on his white mask. "Mine was meant to be a barn owl. I wore this gigantic brown and white coat- ugh, it's hot now even thinking about being back in that thing. King Morrison wore a mask that looked like an eagle, I remember being so annoyed that his looked so similar to mine, but he had this massive gold beak on the front that he would run into things with and I would laugh every time because he looked so ridiculous." 

"I'm a bit surprised your favorite memory of that room would include King Morrison." 

"I have many good memories of him that I do not wish to tarnish with his actions. That night our lands celebrated a win together that neither of us could have done alone, he drank together, we fought in wars together, before he lost his faith in me, King Morrison was one of the few people on this earth that I knew I could trust blindly. Even though he drove his blade through me, I still carry those memories. In fact, I married him and King Vincent right here in this very pavilion. I opened my home to him and he stayed here for months after he was recovering from an illness that almost took his life. I am angry about what happened, don't get me wrong, but I have to keep myself sane by separating the good times from the awful." 

"That's understandable." You instantly felt bad for even questioning it. "So, that night, the masquerade. Why was it your favorite?" 

"It was the last time I was surrounded entirely by people of my own choosing." He glanced at the windows looking into the dining room with a cross expression. "We started the night before the sunset and didn't end until the sun was back in the sky the next day. Jesse was by my side almost all night, I think he must have been wearing the mask of a wolf, he was having a great night too because he'd just beat all of Morrison's army in marksmanship and I remember not being able to get him to shut up about it."

"Was Genji there too then?" 

"He was, although he usually ended up sticking to the corner and staying to himself. That night his mask was beautiful, though. I still don't know why he stayed in it all night, it was made of solid stone and carved into a dragon's face with these fiercely glowing red eyes, it must have been impossible to breathe out of. Actually, now that I think of it, their masks are probably still in their rooms upstairs." 

"Have you been in their rooms since... everything happened?" You asked softly. He chewed at the corner of his lip and picked between sharp teeth through the hole in his cheek as he thought. 

"I destroyed Jesse's room one night after I found my strength again, I'm not sure what's left of it." His hand played with his fork, passing it between fingers as he twirled it against the plate. "I've avoided Genji's, it felt wrong to rip through his when he only assumed he was following orders from the next in command." 

"If it's alright with you, could I take a look around Genji's room sometime before I leave?" You dropped your hand and traced the edge of Reaper's mask thoughtlessly. His eyes followed your fingertips as you traced it. "He mentioned a picture of him and his brother that he left here, I'd like to return it if I can."

"Of course." He spoke softly. "My only request still stands. You're free to take what you'd like with my blessing, my only ask is that no one knows I'm alive. Even Genji. I do not wish to disturb whatever life he's grown for himself now. He would be disgusted by the man I've become after I harped on him for years trying to shape him into a better man." 

"I think he'd be thankful to know the truth." Your fingers followed along the sharp edge on the bridge of the mask's nose, it seemed bizarre to think of it as the centerpiece to a masquerade costume. "But I'll respect your wishes, of course." 

Through tall grass and overgrown trees, you could see the windows of the dining room where everyone else was dining as you sat out in the pavilion with Reaper. Their figures moved like blurred shadows on the inside and it seemed almost as if they were trying to catch glimpses of the two hidden on the other side of the lake. Reaper talked more about the masquerade as you tried to ignore their wistful onlooking, you were beginning to pick up on signs of when he was nervously talking. He'd rattle on over the same subject, the corner of his lips would twitch up in unsure smiles wondering if you were still listening, and without fail you would meet his eyes happy to see him acting so giddy. 

You almost felt bad about it, knowing he may have been opening up to someone with the hidden intentions of falling in love made you guilty and see some of his words through bleak colors. It felt nice to have someone doting over you, but you couldn't be sure it wasn't for synthetic reasons.

"Would you show me the garden?" You asked him after leaning back in your chair, full from breakfast. 

"We haven't taken care of it in a while-" He began to protest before he slowly slid his mask back over his face. "Although, if you watch where you step I suppose it couldn't be that bad." 

You left dishes behind at the pavilion with a promise that he would clean them before returning to work with you in the ballroom. Knowing you needed to keep your distance, that you shouldn't give him any more wrong impressions of your intentions, you hugged your arms close to your body as you walked and he did his best to point out what he could in the mess they called an outdoor garden. 

There were rose bushes taller than he was, their vines and branches all twisted around, mixed in with other brightly colored poinsettias and daisies. Ferns lined the walkway, lavender left untouched swung in a light late morning breeze. Somewhere beneath all the overgrown plants, you could see the blueprints of what at one time must have been a beautiful sight to see. Bushes that would have once been trimmed into neat and tidy shapes, grass cut fresh to stretch over large lawns where people would have spread out for picnics or danced to live music. The deeper you went the more color you saw, colors that were covered in dirt and dust inside the castle now seemed so new and bright out in the sunlight. 

At some point, you must have dropped your hands while grinning at the beauty before you because you looked down and your fingers were clasped with his as you walked.

"We should get back to the ballroom." You said as he came to a stop at an archway made entirely of leaves and tree branches. You turned your eyes down the tunnel, looking over a dirt pathway and small rays of sun that spotted the ground between the leaves, just beyond the arch were lines of dark tombstones and bouquets of flowers left before them. "There's a lot of work to be done." 

"For my own sanity, please stay off the ladders for now." He asked, there was a joking quality to his voice but he was clearly serious as he squeezed your hand.

* * *

What you learned of Reaper as you fixed the ballroom together taught you more than you thought possible. 

He could be quick to anger, a temper shorted by years of being alone and being outcast that sometimes outburst at bizarre times, like the ladder falling over when he thought he placed it right, or a spot he just couldn't get clean. While it may have been fine when he was alone and no one was around to see him blow his lid, he grew to understand that even the smallest shift of your body could tell him his reactions would frighten you. 

Slowly, you saw more of a man than a monster. Somewhere beneath his wandering eyes and his torn up face he was gentle, he'd lived too many lifetimes, seen too much fighting, and you could feel it in your bones that he was tired of fighting for every chance. 

The others in the castle began to notice as well, there was a change happening and it appeared at first with Siebren moving closer at the dining table to sit at your side, and more importantly, on Reaper's end of the table.

Each day seemed to easier than the day before it, more comfortable. Each day it seemed like it would be harder and harder to leave those people and your room _-your room-_ behind. You had to restrain yourself, had to hold back from the urge to rest against his chest and feel his arms wrapped around yours. You had to stop yourself from holding his hand beneath the table or locking ankles with him during dinner. You were leaving as soon as the ballroom was done, you had to. 

After cleaning windows, sun could shine in throughout the day. The ballroom was a rare beacon in the west wing, it was one of the few that even allowed any sunlight into the room at all- it was truly a sight to behold. Day in and day out, you and Reaper put in work to clean and polish the room to its once former glory. He seemed to be moving purposefully slow sometimes, especially when he was enjoying your conversations where you'd talk about all the stories from lands in far distant seas, or he would tell you all about the empires he struck down and the people he met or the citizens in his town before everything burned that night Morrison's army attacked. 

After cleaning the windows it was onto polishing the gold- the frames that twisted around the glass, the lining over arches as they reached up to the ceiling, the little decorative curls that would fall down to hidden doors where dark rooms of chairs and tables would be stored when not in use. It was a far more intensive process, standing there scrubbing all day would tire out your arms until you felt like you couldn't even lift a fork the next day. 

One morning there was a particularly cold chill that passed through the west wing, wind from changing weather which pushed through a boarded-up window somewhere down the hall. Not wanting to watch you shiver as you worked, Reaper took on a side project of replacing the windowpane which ate up almost an entire afternoon- you ended up spending the evening with Siebren and Amélie instead, they were tending to the greenhouse and you sat next to their tools staring at the giant flower encased in glass as they spouted off nonstop bickering about which herb was used for what recipe.

"It's coming together well." You said with a smile when they asked how the renovation was going. "I think we'll have a ball here fairly soon." 

"Not too soon, I hope." Siebren chimed in as he held a handful of chives. "No, we mustn't rush the planning of these sorts of things, and you two have been working so hard." 

"You don't even have a dress ready yet!" Amélie added. She flipped a flower upside down and twirled it like the ends of a dress. "We must have hundreds of them in storage, or I could convince Reaper to make you an entirely new one-" 

"Reaper? I doubt he would be interested in sewing a ballgown-" 

"He loves to sew!" She threw her hands to her lap in a hard slap and a smile spread across her face. "What an old beast, he hasn't told you? The man made every single one of his own costumes and suits. He even surprised me with my wedding dress!" 

"Did he really?" You responded in disbelief. 

"He even designed our crowns for Court of Talon-" Siebren began.

"You all have _crowns?!"_ You slapped a hand over your heart. Not once had you ever pictured yourself walking amongst royals, but indeed you kept forgetting they all were very high ranking members of the castle. 

"We do." Amélie laughed as she tucked her hair behind her ear. "Although Olivia has a bit of a sore spot about that, her's was not necessarily a crown. It's gorgeous though, all of them are. I think the last time we must have wore them was- mm, what? Too many years ago to count now, at this point." 

"Crowns and ballgowns-" You laughed to yourself. "I mean, I knew this place was fancy but I definitely don't think about it when I'm around you all. Most of the royals I've dealt with have been... stuffy and narcissistic. You've all been so kind and open with me. Sharing all these stories, Amélie like you and your time in the opera. Siebren and your years you spent researching magic connected to the stars, Max, Olivia, Akande, even Reaper, I'm thankful for having the opportunity to work with all of you and for the trust you've put in me." 

"You're not done yet." Siebren sat at your side and wrapped an arm over your shoulders, bringing you in for a loose side hug as you rested your head against his chest. "Come now, there's no time to get sentimental. While Reaper is still replacing the window in the west wing, help us with dinner. Amélie could use you to settle our herb feud." 

In the kitchen, you sat on the countertops as Siebren brought you testing spoonfuls of his dishes. Amélie busied herself with kneading bread, the entire main hall of the castle began to smell of basil and sage as she baked. As the others wandered down to join in the kitchen, you found yourself closing your eyes and smiling. It seemed so odd that these people, this company of criminals and royals all in one somehow made you feel more at home than any of the second story apartments or shared bunks on ships ever had. Your idea of home before was fleeting, it was something that never settled in one place or one person, and yet sitting there in the kitchen listening to Maximilien and Siebren debate on the best way to reorganize the library somehow felt like you were right at home. 

Akande was the first to suggest everyone move to a sitting room to spend the evening drinking and feasting on Siebren and Amélie's labors. With armfuls of plated snacks, and cups filled to the brim carefully held between fingers, everyone wandered to a sitting room on the main floor- the very one you warmed yourself in the night you arrived. Instead of curling in on yourself as you shivered in wet clothes, you were setting a tray of pastries down and helping them light the massive fireplace. Siebren and Akande pushed the furniture to the side, the chairs were up against the walls and an old quilt was spread across the floor giving everyone a comfortable place to sit or lay on the ground for the evening. 

You were a drink in, already feeling the warmth of alcohol spreading beneath your skin when you realized it was getting late and Reaper had yet to join the fun. They were playing card games, drinks needing to be refilled, laughs had as cheeks flushed and yet you found yourself looking around waiting for him to come in and be a part of the strange family you'd accepted yourself into. 

"I'll be right back." You breathed out as you pushed yourself off the floor. No one seemed to bat an eye that you were leaving, you chewed at the corner of your lip as you overheard a whisper that was far too loud wondering if you were off to find Reaper. 

You were blushing, you shouldn't be _blushing_. You were just going to get him so he could join everyone, you were being a good friend. 

_A friend._ Oh, you needed to lean against the wall and gather your thoughts, you'd never called him a friend before. It was dark in the west wing, you could hide the way your cheeks were pinked if you stuck to the shadows just as you had the night you ran to his room and caught him- 

_What was wrong with you?_

It had to be the drink, you were feeling far more giddy than usual. You couldn't allow yourself to lose all composure just because you were having heated memories of the man behind the mask breathing out your name. 

You made your way through the dark of the staircase leading up to the west wing, past a repaired window with shining new glass, further through the halls until you heard clattering coming from the ballroom. Wondering what he could be doing all alone in there, you moved quietly, you wanted to get a peek at what he was up to before you announced your presence. The lamps had all been extinguished, rooms were dark but you heard his steps coming toward you through the hall.

"Are you trying to sneak up on me?" His voice echoed off the walls, you could hear a smile or a smirk. 

"Not intentionally." You gasped out as his steps quieted and you could feel a cold brush of air passing by. 

"What brings you back here so late?" He was next to you in the darkness, you could feel him standing at your side with his cloak coming to a rest against your leg. 

"I wanted you to join us, in the sitting room." You turned to face him, unable to find anything more than the vague outline of his mask. "We're having a fun night and I was hoping you'd like to spend some time with everyone." 

"Maximilien cheats at card games." He tsked. In the dark you weren't sure if you were imagining it or not, but you could have sworn he ran fingertips through the ends of your hair. "And Olivia gets handsy when she's drunk." 

"Come on-" You reached for him blindly, thinking you could grab his arm or his shoulder, your aim was a little too high and you gasped as you surprised yourself by sliding your hand over his collarbone and to the side of his neck. You froze in panic, knowing you'd touched him far more intimately than you intended, you wondered if he could see the blush burning at your cheeks as you caught yourself and quickly pulled your hand away. "It- it would be nice to have you around." 

"I wouldn't want to ruin the evening-" 

"I want you there." You interrupted, liquid courage giving you all the confidence you needed. "Come with me, just for a little while. One drink then you're free to go if you want."

Refusing to take no for an answer, you felt down his arm until you reached his hand. He began to protest, only to quickly stop himself as your hand clasped in his and you started off towards the main wing with him in tow. He'd been working without gloves recently, luckily for you that meant you weren't wrapping fingers with sharp blades. As you dragged him through the castle you found yourself wishing he would do the same with his mask, even though his face still struck a chord of fear, you wanted to be able to see his eyes and read his expressions. 

You sheepishly appeared before the sitting room and looked through to everyone before you dropped your hand away from Reaper's. Checking on him, you turned to see him nervously tapping his nails at his side.

"It'll be fun." You whispered to him. "How long has it been since you've just let yourself relax and spend time with everyone?"

"Too long." He responded curtly, although even in his bitterness, he moved to take off his mask and tuck it beneath his arm.

You stepped into the sitting room, the warmth of the fire surrounding you had you smiling as you greeted everyone. There was a pause as eyes caught you with Reaper looming behind and for a long moment you almost thought they were going to turn him away. 

"Ah, Reaper! You're just in time, we were about to start a new game." Siebren smiled as he shuffled a deck of cards in his hands. "Amélie was explaining the rules to a strange card game she used to play with her dancing troupe." 

"We had to find ways to entertain ourselves while staying silent backstage." She shrugged before moving to sit at the corner of the blanket on the floor. "It can get very intense, and you must feel as if you know the people around well enough to trust that you are playing it correctly." 

You filled drinks, one for you and one for Reaper as you moved to sit at her side. Akande moved a small wood end table into the middle of everyone, placing it as the centerpiece to the game. With Siebren on the other side of you, and Reaper with Olivia, Maximilien and Akande on the other, each of you were dealt five cards out of the deck. 

"These cards are not the same as playing cards." Amélie began. "Each one is individually numbered with a number one through one hundred. The goal of this game is to set the cards in our hands down in order from least to greatest, the catch is, none of us may speak or signal a number we have. The entire game is based on intuition and trust. If any cards are put down that are greater than the one in your hand, everyone loses and we must start over."

She paused to look around to make sure everyone understood before bringing a finger to her lips indicating that from then on no one was allowed to speak. 

You stared down at your hand, all of your cards were fairly close together and sitting in the higher range. In tense silence you watched as Olivia locked eyes with Akande, they both reached for a card in their hands with this questioning look thinking one person had a lower card then the other. Simply watching their interaction was making you sweat, trying to read other people without any verbal cues or signals for some reason had your heart beating hard in your throat. After a long round of those two staring and psyching each other out, Olivia slapped down a card with a two and immediately after Akande put a card with a three on top of it. 

The entire group seemed to sigh in disbelief and then another round of staring began as the guess was on for who had the next highest card. 

Reaper was the first to break the momentum, he put down thirty-two before Siebren had the chance to place his card reading thirty. 

A new round started, new cards, new stares, each time you were becoming more and more aware of how everyone acted when they were waiting on those around them. Maximilien was the hardest to read, of course because of his omnic face that was limited to an emotionless faceplate, but he had a nervous way of holding his cards or fiddling with his fingers whenever someone was watching him. 

Round after round failed with everyone letting out frustrated groans at every loss. Surprisingly, Reaper stayed though. Even though frustrated fluctuations, he kept his anger controlled when games were lost even if it was because of him. He'd finished his drink, you were down another, and after a particularly nerve wracking round it finally came down to the last two cards. 

Everyone else was eerily silent as you and Reaper tried to silently connect. The last card put down was ninety-three, in your hand was the third to last card in the deck: ninety-seven. Either Reaper had a lower card somewhere between yours and the one on the table, or he had one of the final two cards in the set. 

The way he was looking at you said there was no way he could have the last card, if he had the hundredth card his lips would be lifted in a cocky smile and he'd be practically inviting you to set yours down first. The longer your eyes were locked with his, the more it began to sink in that you were slowly becoming less and less bothered by the monstrous eyes and the opening at the side of his face. Even though he was something taken out of children's nightmares, he was handsome and you could no longer deny that to yourself. Your fingers gripped tightly around the card as you realized you were beginning to blush once more, your mind was wandering as you stared at floppy hair tossed to the side with streaks of gray running through, your heart was controlling you as you imagined if the curse would be broken in a flurry of magic if you kissed him.

His questioning expression softened as he must have seen the pink rising to your cheeks.

You had to snap out of your delirious drunken daydream, you couldn't be the person that fell in love with a monster locked away in a castle. 

Uncaring if you won or lost, you slapped down your card and breathed out a heavy sigh. Reaper's face turned in surprise as he slowly lowered his own card above yours, the room stilled when everyone looked at it and realized he was setting down the highest card in anyone's hand, a card reading ninety-seven. 

"Finally!" Olivia cheered as she fell backward in a dramatic fashion. 

"Amélie this game is practically a form of torture!" Siebren cried out with a smile. 

"Isn't it terrible fun?" She laughed and stretched with a yawn. "And what a treat to have you join us, Reaper. We should do this often-"

"Every night." Olivia mumbled as she moved to rest her head in Amélie's lap and hug at the woman's hips. 

"Well, perhaps not every night." Amélie retorted with a smile and ran her hands through Olivia's hair. Olivia was happily drunk and cuddling, her body cozying in against Amélie who looked to Akande with pleading eyes. "I think it's time we head to bed for the evening, however. Come along, Olivia. Akande, would you please be a dear and help me with her?" 

"Can Siebren not help instead?" He scoffed in reply, although his words seemed to be fairly empty as he knelt down next to them and Olivia climbed onto his back to be carried off piggyback style. 

"Don't be a brat, you big bald softy, I know you love me." She giggled before nuzzling her face against the side of Akande's head. He stared back into the sitting room, for as carefree as she was, Akande held a stern expression that told you he'd carried her off far too many times and didn't find her quite as cute as she seemed to think she was. He turned and carefully sidestepped through the door as she squeezed him at his shoulders. 

"Would you like me to help you clean?" Siebren asked Amélie who was already in the process of gathering the scattered dishes. "Maximilien and I can both pitch in." 

"I'd appreciate the help." She smiled.

"I can help too-" You started only for her to click her tongue and brush you off.

"Nonsense." She lightly hit your hand away from plates you were beginning to gather. "You head off to bed, I'm sure you need to rest before you're back in the ballroom tomorrow. In fact-" She looked to Reaper with eyes that motioned for him to step closer to you. "Reaper, see her to her room, please. Off with you both."

They practically pushed you each out of the sitting room. Your cheeks burned and you couldn't bring yourself to look at Reaper who stood at your side with his mask tucked beneath his arm. He cleared his throat and motioned for you to start walking. With a held breath, you began towards the stairs and you must not have blinked the whole way up as you listened to Reaper's hesitant steps following close behind. 

You got all the way to your door before you turned to face him and you held the doorknob as you awkwardly stared up at him. 

"Thanks for staying. It was a lot of fun having you there." You chewed at your cheek, unsure if you should mention the moment shared over cards. 

"Thank you for forcing me to come." His usually wandering monstrous eyes were all turned on you, their red centers burning brightly and unable to look away. 

"See you in the morning?" You asked with a strange chuckle that fell flat inside your chest. 

"Y-yes. Same time as always." He muttered and there was no denying that he was staring right at your lips. 

There was a buzzing, an anxiousness, a nervousness, whatever you wanted to call it that was practically deafening as you anticipated him leaning down. His arm began to raise with his hand reaching for your chin, but he must have forgotten about the mask he was holding as all at once it clattered to the floor and frightened you both. He stepped back with a sharp gasp, you twisted the handle to your door and practically jumped into the room as your heart raced so hard against your chest you were sure it was going to burst through.

"Goodnight!" You yelled, accidentally a little too loud, before slamming the door and smacking a hand to your face out of pure and utter embarrassment that he made you that nervous.

"Good- goodnight." He sputtered out before you heard his heavy steps hurrying away. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The card game they're playing is similar to a real game called The Mind, I definitely recommend it for a game night sometime! \\( ͡° ͜/// ͡°)/
> 
> ALSO!!
> 
> Stormcallart drew and AMAZING and absolutely accurate fanart for R&R, [please check it out here](https://twitter.com/stormcallart/status/1245507370341597185?s=20). I love it so much! ;w; <3 


	14. Who'd Have Thought?

"Oh, look at that! It's beginning to snow." Siebren smiled one morning as everyone was half awake at the table enjoying their breakfast. Eyes turned to the large window at the end of the room, to the moody sky, where glittering white flakes were beginning to fall. 

"The first storm of winter." Amélie sighed before turning to meet your eyes. "Although it is rare for it to rain over this forest when it snows it usually becomes blizzard conditions. Siebren, Akande, how was our firewood stockpile looking last time you checked?"

"There's enough to last about a week if we're greedy." Akande laughed into his cup. "We can bring fresh cuts in later today." 

Reaper adjusted in his seat at the head of the table, twisting around to stare through the window. His true eyes watched the snow silently falling on the other side of the glass, but as they always did, his monstrous eyes stayed turned on you watching intently. When he turned his knees knocked against yours, at first your legs jumped but they settled comfortably resting against each other. Meals around the table were some of the few times you felt genuinely at home, Reaper didn't wear his mask or his ridiculous gloves when he ate. 

There was this thing he did, almost as if he was going to push your knees away, but at the last second he would gently lay his hand at the side of your thigh and it would rest there until he needed to use his hand to eat. His fingers resting on your leg would make your heart jump, his touch was always so hesitant, so unspoken of, you were sure if you ever asked him why he did it he would deny it in the first place. 

"I should probably make another supply run before it gets too bad out there then, we're running low on quite a few things." Reaper mumbled to himself as his hand left your leg and he pushed his chair out, quickly grabbing his mask.

He paused before putting it on and looked around the room only for his eyes to stop on you. Being the only person who could leave castle grounds, he was the one they relied on to get what they couldn't grow or catch, and that was a responsibility that must have weighed on him heavily. He would disappear on supply runs every few weeks and return with varying degrees of things, either from raiding passing carts, taking what he could from stores as he stuck to the shadows or on even more rare occasions with baskets and bags from a village you were almost sure he was running out of stock.

"I could come with you." You offered, it bothered you how much they did in return for you doing so little. "Another set of hands to carry things, that would help, right?" 

He scoffed and clipped his mask in place. 

Cleaning and repairing the floors of the ballroom was taking far longer than either you or Reaper anticipated. In fact, you grew ever more suspicious by the number of times you would return in the morning and swear you had already cleaned a section that mysteriously by the next day would have a chip in the marble or a new stain across it. Although perhaps you should have said something, you would always bite your tongue and get straight to work without mentioning it, heading out to help him with bringing back supplies sounded far better than simply staring at the same floral pattern across the tile that you'd been cleaning meticulously for weeks. 

"Your help is _not_ necessary-" Reaper began, only to be interrupted. 

"That's a lovely idea." Siebren blurted as he gathered empty plates from the table. "Go on, don't worry about cleaning up we'll take care of this, you two should head out as soon as possible. We wouldn't want either of you caught in a storm." 

"I don't need help-" Reaper protested but Siebren shot him a look that seemingly shut him up. 

You weren't blind. You could see exactly what they were doing, those half-smiles of his former secret court giving you every opportunity to be alone with Reaper, every opportunity to fall in love, and yet you hesitated. The pressures to feel something so deeply scared you, their watchful eyes, their attempts to get you alone with him, you knew they only wanted freedom but it was getting to a point where you were almost resenting it. You wanted to spend time with everyone, not just with Reaper even though you were particularly fond of time with him. 

It had been weeks since you completed your original journal, writing to the brim with tales of war, royalty drama, and operas. You wrote page to page in a second one with Siebren's thoughts about the universe, Akande's stories of leading armies all over the globe, Maximilien's quiet mutterings about life behind omnic eyes. They happily handed you another journal one morning over dinner weeks ago and jumped right into sharing how they used to move about the castle in secret as the king's unseen council. Between days working side by side with Reaper and nights gathered with everyone else, you slowly found yourself less and less concerned about writing down their stories and more about just listening, simply relating and riffing with them. It was friendships, _real_ friendships that you were settling into, and that made your heart jump with glee when you thought of it. 

"Well..." Reaper spoke as he nervously tapped his fingers against the table. "If you're going to come with me you need to dress warm and cover yourself well. The village I'm heading to today is called Forgotten Hollows, it is a small community but they are the _only_ people outside of the castle who I interact with on even a remotely friendly level.” He pushed his chair in and spoke beneath his breath as he looked down to you. “You'll need to hide your face.” 

“Hide my face? Why?” You stood to walk with him as he wandered to the doors, he seemed in a hurry to get going as you left the others muttering behind you. 

“Not all who have been cursed as I have had the luxury of staying in place. You will see men who became monsters, people who are doomed to lifetimes of suffering at the hands of magic. They resent anyone who may appear as an outsider. When we're there I can not let you speak, you'll need to let me talk for you.”

"They sound dangerous." 

"Many of them are." He paused in the hall, letting out a long breath. "I only visit this village once every few moons, I seldom enjoy their company. Some of these people have lost their humanity... it is a reminder of what I may become one day. They repay me in provisions after I help them with something that has been attacking their village, or mediate some argument between those who live there. While I'm doing whatever they ask of me, please stick to the outskirts and don't interfere so we can get out of there as quickly as possible." 

"That sounds like a large burden." You said as you place a hand on his arm.

"We do what we have to in order to survive. I can put up with a few sour attitudes if it means providing for the people here." He groaned and lifted his arm, rubbing a hand at the back of his neck. "I feel the need to apologize in advance. That place, those people, I know I can let them get to me so there's a decent chance we'll leave and I'll be in a pretty bad mood. I've never had company coming with me before, and I promised you I would control my anger. I'm hoping I can keep a handle on myself, but I'm sorry if I get ugly." 

"From the sound of that place I can understand that, really. You're allowed to be upset about the situation you're in Reaper, you can be angry. I just don't want you to lose control." 

He paused, his chest shuttering with a heavy breath. Unsure, you stood there looking up at him, your mind flipping between wanting to hug him or push him away. 

"Can I ask for your honesty?" He questioned as his hand dropped from his neck down limply to his side. 

"Of course." You gripped at the ends of your sleeves, your heart beating hard against the inside of your chest. 

"When you think of me, if you think of me, that is- I didn't mean to make assumptions, um- if you were to speak of me as I am now, would you consider me man, or monster?" 

"Man." You responded without even a pause, although following his silence as he stared back at you there was a hesitation in your heart that wondered if you would still say man if you'd been there to see him tearing strangers limb from limb as many people of the castle had. He stayed quiet, you wished you could have seen his face, you wondered if he was shocked or if he was smiling. "What would you say for yourself, Reaper?" 

"I-" He stepped back, sounding far more flustered than you expected. "We should- let's get ready to head out. If we wait too long we may be walking back in a heavy storm."

"Yeah, okay." You spoke softly as he turned and began to head down the hall once more. You caught up with him and allowed your fingers to brush against the back of his arm as you passed by, he turned to watch you as you split away to head up the stairs and you could feel his eyes watching you beneath his mask. You could feel the "I'll meet you at the door as soon as I'm changed, and hey- try not to watch me through any open doors this time." 

"What-!" He turned just as you were scurrying up the stairs, running from your light-hearted tease. Out of sight and somewhere in the hall you could hear him stumble and clatter against one of the columns resting near the wall. It felt better to fluster him than it did to leave him wondering about his own mortality. 

You ran straight to your room, straight to your cabinet and searched for the heaviest clothes that would keep you warm if you threw it over the usual pants you wore around the castle. The only thing that you could find that could possibly withstand a biting cold was a layered skirt and matching cape that would drape down to the ground. Dusty pink and hem becoming unthreaded it wasn't the perfect choice, but it was the only choice. You threw it over yourself and draped the cape over your arms as you slammed your door behind you to rush back down to the front door. 

Reaper was waiting already, in one hand were empty burlap sacks, in the other a black mesh fabric that he held out toward you. 

"If you didn't already bring something, use this to hide your face. It's the same fabric I used on this mask, you'll be able to see through it but no one will see you beneath it." 

"Oh, thank you-" You said as you realized he knew you would forget to bring something. 

He tucked the sacks beneath his arm and moved to take the cape from your arms. He cleared his throat, you could hear how unsure he was as he pulled it and held it up in front of you waiting for you to turn. Holding your breath, you moved in front of him and twisted to face away, he dropped it over your shoulders and fastened it carefully with the claws of his gloves just above your chest. It was so intimate, not only by how close his body was to yours, but having blades so near your throat, it was a chilling reminder that should he feel at any given moment you were no longer worth his time those blades could sink beneath your skin before you could even fight him off. 

His touch lingered as he slid to hold you at your shoulders. 

"Are you alright? You're trembling." He spoke low. "Am I scaring you?" 

"You're a little intimidating." You laughed out nervously, but you lifted your hand and wrapped it at his over your shoulder minding the edges of the blades. 

"Ah- Sorry." He pulled away and curled his fingers into loose fists before moving to open the door for you. 

Although it was morning, the usual bright sun was hidden behind gray clouds and snow lightly falling. He helped you through the veins and the thorns surrounding the crumbling hole in the wall, he chuckled as you struggled to get a heavy skirt through until you shot him a warning look that you didn't find it quite as funny. 

He was on high alert outside of the castle walls, one hand rested on his weapon at any given moment while he walked at your pace side by side. He looked strange, tall above you all dressed in black head to toe aside from his mask against a burnt forest. As the snow fell it would leave dots of white all down his cloak, every now and then he would turn to look down at you, checking to make sure you were still at his side, checking to make sure you hadn't run off into the forest like you'd tried before. He wanted to say something, or at least it felt like he did with the way he kept nervously drumming his fingers. 

For over an hour, he led you down a long untraveled path, through patches of trees that lined large empty fields where houses once stood. Up a hill then to the main road that looked so familiar you were sure if you ran you'd find the village you left Genji behind in. Reaper placed a hand at your back after your heel clicked against the brick of the road and he motioned toward a turn off far in the distance.

"We'll be heading down there. If we ever get separated and you need to find your way back to the castle, come to this main road and find the tree struck by lightning." He paused as you turned to look over your shoulder and stare at a tree which had not only been burned from a long ago forest fire, it was splintered and the ground surrounding it blackened by lightning. He seemed hesitant to speak again, but "I made this path on one of my other supply runs, just in case you leave and want a safe way back to the main road."

"I appreciate it." You spoke softly and felt his hand twist, his knuckles rub at your back before he returned his hand to his weapon. 

The closer you got to the turn you began to notice there was something a little strange off around the trees. There was a poster nailed into the trunk of a tree facing the road, yellowed weathered paper that hung for months. You paused in front of it and drew your head back as you stared at your own face, rendered in charcoal staring back at you and your name written across it. Reaper paused behind you and let you process what you were seeing before you glared over your shoulder, he laid a hand over your shoulder almost as if he was going to have to hold you back from swinging at the tree. 

“Jesse put out notices that I’m _missing?”_ You turned to look up at Reaper as if he would have answers, it just seemed so odd that a man you hardly knew would go through the effort of having all posters made, even more so that if you were found it was to be reported directly to him. “And the reward money for finding me, my god, I should just turn myself in.” 

His talons twitched against your shoulder, not enough for him to hurt you, but enough that you absolutely felt it. 

"Were you close with him?" Reaper asked, his claws still resting on you. "I know you spoke to him quite a bit for your journal, you two must have got to know each other quite well." 

"He..." You chewed at your cheek before letting out a long breath and staring at the drawing of yourself. "I think he thought we were closer than we actually were." 

"It's best it stays that way. He's trouble." 

"I believe that." You didn't need to believe him, you knew that well enough yourself.

With his hand still at your shoulder, you turned to face him as you brought the black fabric he'd given you to your head. You made him hold two pins as you centered the black fabric over your face and carefully locked the pins into place holding it in your hair. You tucked the end of the fabric into the neckline of your cape and carefully brought the hood over to hide yourself completely.

"How's it look?" You asked as soon as you were hidden behind the black. You could see out of it, but everything seemed to have a black noise in front of it. 

"Perfect, can't see a thing." 

How strange it must have looked, a hood with endless black where a face should be. With a long breath, you started down a turn that led into a thicket of elm trees. The village was a long walk down the road then a turn at a single sign that had been worn down by age warning of outside visitors. The closer you got to the village the more nervous he became and the larger the snowflakes were that fell.

Forgotten Hollows was a tiny village that surrounded a small emerald colored lake. The sight of the water took your breath away, it was crystal clear but bright green and the dark stone buildings that lined it had clearly been there for quite some time, the water against the white snow falling around you gave it an almost ethereal glow. For how small it was, the village was bustling with life. There were enough homes and stores for a small market in the center and roads lined with worn-out bricks.

Reaper moved with stiff shoulders through the streets, you could feel how absolutely on edge he was and that was making you nervous. As you laid eyes on the villagers, you understood exactly why Reaper felt so guarded. At one corner stood a man, covered in scales and green eyes that shined brighter than the sun behind the clouds, he was scolding snakes that sprouted from the top of his head for trying to bite at the woman in front of him. With the gorgon, was a woman half transformed from a rabbit, her cheeks bruised and scarred where she’d ripped out whiskers and a wrench tossing in thoughtless circles as they spoke. One woman cursed to live as part dragon, another with a body made of ice, none of them would ever be able to face the world without being chased away with mobs and torches. 

"Reaper!" A drifting voice called out, you turned to see a set of armor glowing a blueish-green inside where a body seemingly was not standing. 

"Pharah, always a pleasure. How have things been here since my last visit?" Reaper sounded so diplomatic, you could almost hear the king in his voice. 

"Fine." Her voice was short as it emanated from a nonexistent face. Although you couldn't see eyes, you could feel her glaring at you. "Who's this?" 

"An extra set of hands." He growled as his arm crossed over your body, shielding you from the enchanted armor floating before you. "She's not staying." 

"Well, you know the drill. We've been waiting for you to show up, are you putting her to work too?"

"Show me what you need me to do." He dropped his hand away as his head motioned to you. "She stays here." 

For being his extra set of hands, you found yourself not doing much other than waiting around. Reaper and a set of enchanted armor set off as you were left sitting behind a building being haphazardly used as a bakery, you leaned against the wall looking out over the green lake watching for movement against the water as snowflakes fell down against the surface. You could hear him far off in the distance, helping move something or other as you sat out of sight and out of mind.

You sat there quietly as snow began to fall, heavier and heavier all day until it began to stick to the ground and cover the dirt in sheets of white. 

You waited, and waited, and waited, and waited _forever_ it felt like. Snow was building, you were getting colder as you stood there beneath that cape, and you found that you kept playing with the fastening that Reaper closed above your chest. Your breath was getting hot against the black fabric covering your face, so much so that it almost felt like you were going to overheat. 

You shouldn't have.

You should have listened to Reaper, but you got too comfortable beneath the fall of snow.

Thinking you were safe, that you were alone, you reached beneath your hood and unpinned the fabric to give yourself a chance to breathe in the crisp air. 

A dog emerged from the trees and you froze.

With graceful slow movements, mostly black with a face curled in brown, the sleek hunting dog had one eye glowing blue and the other red. It stared right at you, right into your soul, you felt as if you couldn't move, you couldn't breathe, you couldn't feel the warmth or the cold. There was something so wrong, so terribly wrong, and all you could do was grip hard again the fabric that was meant to cover your face.

The collar at its neck made of shiny silver metal emanated a humming that rang louder in your ears until it stopped all at once and you knew immediately what it was: a familiar. 

“Ah, _there you are.”_

A cold- a horrible, horrible cold shot beneath your skin. 

_That voice,_ that woman’s voice that would curl in your skull during the moments before you’d lose consciousness, it was closer than it had ever been before. Too close, it wasn’t in your brain but it was somewhere in front of you.

You tried to speak, to scream but you couldn't. 

“A dear friend of mine has been searching for you, having you been hiding in the forest all this time?” Her voice was so smug, so confident as the world fell away from you. 

You squeezed your eyes shut trying to drive away the darkness, your body was wracked with pain while somehow still being numb, but when you opened them there was nothing but a black void as far as you could see.

With a sharp breath you turned, looking around to try and find anything, trying to feel the cold bite of snowfall, trying to see or feel anything but you were in an endless void you realized as you looked at a form emerging from the darkness. 

Tall and with a small smile across her lips, you knew immediately who were looking at. With orange hair and mismatched eyes, standing before you was a witch clutching at a yellow ball of magic. Witches can be horrible menaces, power hungry, nightmarish people who want nothing more than to see the world around them burn down to the ground. It was her voice, it was Moira the one in the mural, the witch who had been speaking to you during fainting spells, and all you could do was stand there unable to move watching her circle you. 

She looked at you as if you would have an answer to her question, but you couldn't breathe. She jerked forward, her cold hand moving hold tightly at your jaw. 

“Why do you want me to leave Overland?” You finally gasped, the pain of her long nails digging at your cheeks bringing you out of your shock. 

“You are a _distraction.”_

"Distraction?" You breathed out trying to force your body to grab her, but you couldn't move.

"Your presence is getting in the way of what I need, be gone or I will find you, and I will force you to face the consequences of getting in my way." She had this curling bitter look on her lips. A witch with vengeful eyes like hers was beyond dangerous, you could see that look in her gaze, she was confident and smirking until all at once her expression dropped. 

Reaper called your name, somewhere far off in the distance with a tone wondering where you were. Her head snapped in the direction of his voice, a burning flash beneath her eyes. She turned to you, slowly looking with realization growing. 

_“No.”_ She glared with a long smile stretching across her face, it was cold and ruthless, with something so very poisonous about her voice. “Oh, no. No, no. My sweet girl, what is _this?_ Don’t tell me you’ve gone and created even more problems for me.”

“What?” You couldn’t breathe, the air was getting colder, it was drawing the life from you. 

“What was it, did Gabriel find some poor frightened girl in the forest and bring her home thinking she would fall in love with him?” That look on her face was sadistic, pure hatred. “I wonder if he would love you if he knew you slept with the man who stood guard as he bled to death.” 

_“Wait-”_ You gasped desperately trying to hang onto consciousness. 

Reaper screamed your name, it ripped from his throat with the rage of a beast. Hearing him but not being able to see him rocked you to your very core as your eyes searched empty darkness. 

“You don’t understand how lucky you are that you’ve already been spoken for. If you were anyone else, I would open your throat as you slept at Gabriel’s side if it meant bringing him more pain.” 

In the flash of a moment your body slammed to the floor and all the breath in you left your lungs. After the sound of a heart-stopping screech, a dog whining and running as fast as it could faded as muffled breathing panted out behind a mask. You blinked open to a stormy sky, to large heavy snowflake falling from above a white mask hovered just above you.

Reaper’s breath pushed out warm clouds through the slats of his mask as he huffed above your face, his heavy cloak was spread across the ground covering you with his body on top of yours and you could feel his hands shaking as clawed fingers moved to touch you at your shoulder. 

“Did she hurt you?” He asked, he sounded so scared, so, so scared. 

“No. No, she only threatened me.” You gasped out as you stared into the empty eye sockets of his mask, your whole body felt numb and warm. You couldn't make sense of anything, couldn't focus enough to ask him to hold you. “She’s been looking for me, I-I think she’s been working with Jesse. Now she knows I’m with you.” 

“Her familiar can travel countries away, there’s no telling how close or far she may be.” His hand slid from your shoulder to your cheek, the blades at his fingertips gentle and careful not to cut you. “We need to get back to the castle.” 


	15. Something There

Your explanation of the witch's curse that caused you to see inky clouds and faint fell to deaf ears. You tried to frantically tell Reaper that somehow your curse was connected to Jesse, not Reaper, but his unfeeling mask and silence told you he was uninterested in hearing it. Your words were jumbled, and confused, unable to put coherent thoughts together as he shoved bags of supplies beneath your arms and demanded that the two of you leave immediately. 

Your legs shook the whole way back to the castle.

Determination to get somewhere safe had you staring through the snow, ignoring the flakes on your lashes as you focused in with tunnel vision back to the turn onto the main road and the lightning charred tree. The witch caused an unparalleled fear to course through your veins, but you felt in your gut it wasn't a fear of what she'd do to you- rather you were deathly afraid of what she could possibly do to your small family if they tried to protect you at the castle.

Staying there was no longer an option. You were a trap, a liability, you were the last thing they needed. 

On the walk back, Reaper refused to walk by your side. He insisted on having you in front of him, on watching you and the quickly disappearing trail ahead that was covered in a sheet of white. Neither of you spoke, with arms full of boxed and bagged supplies it would have been difficult to anyways. Either the cold, or the familiar, maybe even something happened in the village, whatever it was, the silence caused this terrible tension that made your chest feel terribly empty. The sun was beginning to set and the bright glow of white snow kept your way clear, winter was strange in that way, as cold and unforgiving as it was the snow and the white flakes that twinkled from the sky kept you focused. 

As your nose went numb and jaw trembled from the cold, you bitterly thought back to every interaction you’d had with Jesse McCree. How helpful and kind he was on your first day in the village, buying you flowers then keeping his distance until you came to him, he somehow maintained this gentlemanly appearance and yet you knew now that he'd betrayed his king. Regret began to haunt you as you grimaced at the memory of him poorly gyrating against you on the floor of a private booth in the tavern, then how you fell for it again after you followed him home. A terrible lover and a terrible person... but the way he looked at you when you came out of his bathroom all wrapped up in a robe, the way he stumbled over his words when he woke up to you the next morning, the glitter in his eyes when you promised a date once you were back in the village- your heart didn't quite know where to land when you thought of him. 

You were frustrated and betrayed, you decided as you stomped through the snow. Even if his feelings were genuine- if he had anything to do with the woman that was capable of ruining so many lives you knew you wouldn’t be able to forgive him. You huffed with a warm breath pushing out a cloud around your face as you spoke over your shoulder.

"How far are we?" Your voice was unintentionally angry, thinking of Jesse left you in a sour mood. 

"About another half hour at this pace." He muttered behind his mask. Your legs were practically numb, even beneath the heavy skirt and a layer of warm pants they were shaking from walking far too far on pure adrenaline and your feet were beginning to ache from the low heel of the boots. "We need to keep moving. No time for breaks." 

"I know, I know." You sighed as your arms readjusted around heavy bags. "I just don't know what I'm going to tell everyone. I don't even know where to begin-"

"It's alright, let me handle it." He spoke with a stern, angry tone. "We've been preparing for her to return for years now. We did not know how, or when, but we have not been simply sitting around waiting to be attacked." 

"Reaper, you have no reason to protect me-" 

"Don't." He cut you off with a hard huff from deep in his chest. "Save your breath and focus on getting back to the castle. We don't have any time to waste." 

That certainly shut you up again. With cheeks burning against the snowfall, you carried on as quickly as your exhausted legs would take you down the path. Although he gave you the lightest things to carry, by the time you were nearing the castle your arms were weak and aching. The sun had set far beneath dark mountains, far behind a wall of falling snow long before you found your way back through the burned village and the castle gates. Reaper helped you again through the opening, his hands pushing at the weight of your skirt so you wouldn't catch it on one of the thorns of the vines as you carefully maneuvered your way back onto castle grounds. 

It was at the gates when this strange feeling hit you, your eyes felt heavier than usual, mind felt cloudy. Even your breathing felt like it was slower. 

He was eerily quiet. Brooding. Upset and refusing to speak about it until he was roughly shoving the massive front doors open. 

“Everyone down here!” He barked as soon as the door opened. His booming voice bounced off the stone walls, echoed down to unknown parts of the castle. His tone made that feeling in your chest expand, that swelling that felt almost as if your heart would burst within it. His voice scared you into biting your tongue, it sounded almost like a demon. _“Now!"_

As confused house members wandered down the stairs, they gathered with you in the sitting room with the massive fireplace. Reaper took the provisions from you and ordered you to stay in place where you rested your tired body next to the fire, Maximilien stood silently, his metal fingers gripped at his sides while he stoked the fire to a roaring flame. You curled next to the warmth, your eyes staring down at the ground where you first found comfort after setting foot in the castle, it continued to wrap you in that heat as a replacement for contact you secretly wished Reaper would give you, as you sat waiting and terrified of how everyone would react once they knew what happened at the village.

Once everyone was there, Reaper sighed deeply and paced about the room removing his mask and his gloves with quick controlled movements. Without his mask you could see him furrowed in thought, he only turned to speak once he placed his cloak on a rack near the fireplace to dry. You tried to curl your toes in your boots but found they'd grown numb from the cold, but you had other things to worry about besides feeling a little chilly. 

You sat shivering in that chair and assumed this would be your final goodbye, that you were back at the castle simply to gather your things and leave as quickly as you could. You had no business staying there when you were not one of the majority doomed there for life because of a curse. 

“The day we've assumed would come is now upon us, we will need to enact our lockdown protocols. Unfortunately, we have reason to suspect Moira may be paying us a visit soon. Today, at Forgotten Hollows, that damn familiar of hers found us and threatened us.” Reaper spoke to the group, a snarl on his lips showing his sharp monstrous teeth.

“She threatened _me.”_ You clarified as you looked from them, up to him with watering eyes.

"If she threatens you, she threatens all of us." The look on his face was dark, his eyes never looked so dull. "We should move you to an inner room, one without access to the outside so there's less of a chance-" 

“You’ve all been through enough of her punishments. What are you doing, Reaper? I can’t put any of you in danger. _I can’t stay here anymore_. I’ll never forgive myself if she comes looking for me here and you all get hurt in the process.” 

"I will not allow her to harm you-" 

"She's after me because Jesse McCree has some sort of sick obsession with me!" Your lips curled as you felt emotions bubbling over, threatening to come out in a sob. You felt trapped again, like you were being forced to stay behind those walls because somehow they all still believed you were the one connected to Reaper by fate. "You need to understand that! If I leave then none of you would be in danger-" 

"We protect our own." Siebren butted in with a harsh tone. You snapped to look at him, surprised by his sudden serious demeanor. "You are not just some stranger to us anymore-" 

"Just listen to me! Stop trying to keep me here when I'm not the person who can cure your damn curse!" You screamed as you beat the arms of the chair and shot to your feet. The room stilled, all eyes turned to you as you flushed with embarrassed heat. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry if there was any faith in me, but you all knew from the very beginning I had no intention of being the person who can free you from the castle. Whatever is effecting me, whatever curse I have, it has absolutely nothing to do with Reaper or any of you. I wish I could help you all, I wish that I could say that it was love at first sight and that you are all able to walk right off castle grounds, but right now I need you take me seriously and understand I am _not_ one of you. I'm just someone who had the misfortune of being caught in the rain, and I can not ask any of you to be responsible for me because of that." 

Their silence said it all.

Everyone seemed to be on edge, everyone looked as if they were holding their breath as they stared at you- rightfully so considering how terribly the witch had wrecked through their lives.

Maximilien stood. Without a word and with no reason given, he put his hands at the back of his hips and paced in a small circle before stopping to stare at you. Just looking at him was making your heart sink through the floor, you could feel how scared he was, you could see his body struggling not to shake. For having such a stoic omnic face, you felt the way he was looking at you and it made your whole body go numb until you fell back into your seat. 

He turned sharply, leaving wordlessly. 

“Forgive him, he’s been in a bad state for a while now.” Amélie looked out the door to him, worry etched into her face before her glossy eyes turned to you. “Even if you are not the one we thought to be fated with Reaper, that does not change the fact that many of us care for you deeply. On my husband's grave, I swear to you that I would not be able to forgive myself if you left and something happened."

"I have been waiting for a chance to show that witch that she made a mistake giving me this power." Akande laughed as he curled his heavily armored fist at his side. "The snow will give us extra protection so long as the storm persists. Moira may resort to drastic measures, but she was there during multiple failed attacks in the winter and has seen what it takes to get into this castle. She would never be foolish enough to try when it would be impossible to even make it past the gates with how high the snow can pile.” 

"Siebren, I'll need your help creating a perimeter barrier." Olivia flicked magic between her fingers as she stared at it in thought. "Amélie you should go check on Max then head down to the weapons hold, I don't think it would hurt to arm our new friend with a little protection just in case that witch slips in." 

"Reconvene here in an hour." Reaper said as he placed a hand on your shoulder, looking over you to the group. "Be diligent and keep your eyes open." 

Everyone moved quickly, rushing to leave but Siebren paused at the door. He turned to lock eyes with Reper, the look they gave each other had your uneasy stomach turning over until Siebren pressed a tight fist to his chest and closed his eyes with a small bow. Reaper's hand gripped at your shoulder as soon as Siebren dipped forward, but just as fast as it happened, Siebren snapped up and disappeared into the dark of the hall. 

"What was that?" You asked quietly.

"My soldiers used to do that after I gave orders. It has been quite some time since he's done that." His hand slid over the back of your shoulders, holding you loosely at the back of the neck. "You're shivering, are you still cold?" 

"Cold, scared- I don't know how to feel right now, Reaper. I feel helpless, having everyone say they're willing to protect me like this... it's too much." 

"This is a fight we've been waiting for." He lowered down to one knee at your side, meeting you at eye level in your seat. "We have all accepted that our lives are inside this castle, your presence does not change that. I... am sorry if I put pressure on you to feel any sort of way because I believed in a liar's prophecy about someone who would save me from a fate they had nothing to do with. Spell or no spell, you are still very dear to me- to all of us. Trust me when I say we are not trying to protect you because we think you're weak or helpless, in fact for many here I don't believe it has anything to do with the kindness from their hearts. We know we're not leaving this place. I know what I am and what I always will be, so if she shows her face it may be my only chance for revenge." 

Your eyes watched his carefully. His gaze was focused, brows down, monstrous eyes across his face and neck looking about the room back and forth from the door to you. He sighed from deep in his chest and let his hand slide over your arm until his palm rested over your fingers. His hand was so warm around your icy fingers. You must have been so cold still because you were sitting in the clothes damp from winter snow, they were heavy around your body but cold still surrounded you. 

"I will not stop you if you want to leave." His stern voice softened but his jaw would clench and teeth ground together. "It is not my place to beg you to stay, either." 

"Reaper-" A chill shot down your spine. 

"We simply want to make sure you are looked after-" 

"I'm-" Could he not feel how cold you were? 

"If you stay I can teach you simple spells, and how to guard yourself with a blade-"

You fell forward, ignoring the fear in your throat, pushing aside the shifting in your stomach that told you to stay as far from him as possible, you leaned against him and wrapped your arms tight to his back. When you brought him into a tight hug, his arms slipped beneath the cape you had and his body pressed against the freezing fabric of the snow damped skirt. He paused before realizing you were trying to warm yourself against him, his words caught in sputters as you pressed your cold nose to the soft spot of his neck. He moved to hold you just as soon as he realized you were shivering, shaking even and pulled away moving quickly to cup your face in his hands. 

All his burning red eyes seemed to be wider than usual, it almost looked like there was panic in their gaze. 

He let go of your face as your head bobbed heavy and you whined at the warmth of his hold leaving you. Concern on his face led to his hands grabbing the cape you wore and running his fingers along it, while also grabbing into your skirt. 

"Sorry, I don't know why I did that-" You tried to explain thinking he was offended by your sudden desire to hug him. "I'm just a little cold."

"A little?" He looked to you with wild eyes.

He ran a hand through his hair before suddenly he was working at the clasp on your cape and roughly trying to get you to move so he get it off your body. You let out heavy breaths as you looked down to realize your shirt had soaked completely through. Before you could even protest, he moved down to your skirt and tried to undo the clasp but found it was too tightly bound for his big fingers to open it. In a fit of frustration, he ripped at the waist and pulled the skirt down over your legs revealing the pair of pants beneath also damp and freezing cold. 

You were shivering too hard to even thank him when he moved down to your boots, although they'd been laced up it seemed as if snow still managed to find its way in as you waded through the growing storm outside. He was quick to loosen the strings and pull those away before tossing them to the side. 

"I'm going to pick you up, is that alright?" He asked as he moved to scoop you up from your seat. You nodded, your teeth clattering together as you tried to speak. When he lifted you, your body curled against his chest and went limp as you allowed yourself to be carried by his incredibly strong arms. "We need to get you into dry clothes and raise your temperature. Dammit- I'm so sorry, I was so focused on that witch I didn't realize you were freezing to death right in front of me." 

You looked up at him as he stepped carefully on the stairs, taking you high into the castle toward your room. 

"I'm alright." You finally said, voice shaking. You didn't want to be his burden, not when there were things to do. 

"You're not alright. Wearing cotton when it's snowing like that may as well be a death sentence." He glanced down at you before sucking in his lip and adjusting you in his arms. "I'm not- sorry, I'm not trying to blame you. Today has been taxing on us both." 

He was careful when taking you around corners or up the steeper parts of the stairs, his hands could grip you just a little tighter, his breathing would hitch whenever your fingers would brush against him. If you had the energy you would be kicking yourself for not saying something to him sooner, for not taking a second to breathe and asses why you were feeling so numb.

Back in your room it was dim and quiet. He nudged the door closed with his foot before taking you to your bed to set you somewhere soft and he lowered himself to look you in the eyes. 

"We need to get these clothes off of you. Do you feel as if you can do this yourself, or would you like some help?" He asked you with a serious face that made you want to cry. 

"Just take them off me." You breathed out as you felt yourself get winded with each word. You fell back to your bed to lay down, your body uncontrollably trembling before you let out a small chuckle. "It's not like you haven't seen me like that before." 

"Oh, good. You still have your sense of humor." He replied sarcastically, as he loomed above you with his hands on his hips. 

As you laid across the edge of the bed, Reaper leaned above you with one knee pressed to the mattress at your side. He was careful with untying the lacing done at the front of your shirt, he tried to keep the fabric off of you as much as possible which you appreciated as you realized every movement felt like millions of razor-sharp icicles stabbing at your skin. When he pulled away your top, he ran his hands beneath the shirt against your cold skin, big hands left behind trails of heat as he hooked beneath undergarments and brought everything over your head. As soon as you were exposed, he reached for your blankets and wrapped them around your chest and shoulders and you let out a long sigh as finally, you began to feel some relief from the everpresent cold. 

He was even more careful with your pants, but you closed your eyes and focused only on the feeling of his hands dragging down the sides of your legs as he peeled them from you. Cold and enjoying his touch, you couldn't find it in you to care that you were completely nude- or rather partially covered in a blanket before he turned to dig through your drawers to find anything that would keep heat in for you to wear. 

"As soon as you're all bundled up I'll start a fire up here so you can warm up in peace." He spoke over his shoulder.

"No." You protested as a chill spiked down your spine. "No, I want to be downstairs with everyone else. I want to help plan-" 

"The only thing we need you to do right now is to not lose consciousness because you were trekking around in the snow in the worst possible clothing-" 

"Can we argue about this later?" You asked as you trembled so hard that you accidentally tossed part of the blanket away from yourself.

You couldn't keep yourself still, and he gave you a long sympathetic look before returning to look through your clothes a final time. All you could do was shiver as you laid there at the edge of the bed with the blanket opened and your body waiting for Reaper to get a small zipper open so he could dress you in the ugliest body covering thermal you'd ever seen. Your shoulders were down against the bed but he'd moved your legs to rest together and turned your hips so you at least hid some of your decency. The way he stood almost right against you was a compromising position to be in, from a certain angle it could have appeared far more suggestive than the reality of the situation was, but you didn't quite realize that until you heard your door open with no warning and your name being spoken only to stop not even a beat in. 

"Siebren!" Reaper snapped to look toward the door at the man who intruded without so much as a knock. In a blinding moment of panic to cover you from Siebren's eyes, Reaper dropped the thermal and grabbed at your chest, covering you with his large hands. 

_"Reaper!"_ He yelped, just as surprised to see Reaper as Reaper was to see him, then slapped a hand over his own mouth. "Oh my, I- I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to intrude- Oh, my-" 

SIebren slammed the door to your room and you were left staring up at Reaper with your mouth open still processing Siebren walking in to find you laid against the bed and Reaper leaned above you. You didn't know Reaper's cheeks were capable of turning the shade of red they did, he seemed to be in shock as he stared down and slowly came to the realize that he was still holding you by your chest. If you were blushing you could barely feel it, your body still too low of a temperature to send the right signals to your cloudy mind.

"No one is ever going to believe us." You laughed as you thought about explaining why Reaper was caught holding you to the bed. 

"Let them believe whatever they wish to-" He spoke as he tried to hide his blushing face behind his arm and continue working on the zipper. "We know there was absolutely nothing inappropriate going on here, I'm just helping you as I would help anyone." 

"Right." Your voice shook as wished you could have felt his hands against your chest. In any other context, you were sure you would have been whimpering softly, you would have arched your back as his fingers squeezed at your brests, but all you could focus on as you laid there was how hard it was to take deep breaths. 

You threw your hand over your eyes, refusing to even look at him anymore. Those thoughts about him were more than you could handle- you didn't want to be with him, you told yourself over and over again you had no business in his life. He was a former king, a man turned monster, living a trapped life that would never make you happy. Both of you knew there was something stirring that had to be stopped. The moments of being close enough to kiss, legs resting against one another beneath the table, the way you would sit far too close to one another during nights in the sitting room, it was all too much to argue it was simply friendly. If your pulse wasn't so slow from the cold, you were sure it would be racing as you thought of how he was looking at you laying naked beneath him.

Allowing yourself to get lost in a fantasy of his hands gliding over your skin was more than enough to make you squirm against the blankets and finally feel heat rushing to your face. 

Anything else, you needed to think of anything else as he lifted you at your hips and brought that hideous thermal around your body.

"Were you close with her? The witch, I mean. The way she spoke about you, she seemed so... familiar." You whispered as stared up at the wood ceiling of your bed. 

"I supposed you could say we were close." He mused, his thumb rubbed lightly at your arms before moving them to push your hands through the sleeves. The eyes on his wrist stared back at you and you could have sworn you saw sympathy in them. "She was one of the few people who I felt as if I could trust with my secrets, and I was someone who would keep hers. What makes you ask?" 

You stayed silent for a long while, chewing at the corner of your lip wondering if you should even say it, or if it would only anger him if you asked. 

"She called you by your first name." You finally breathed out, resolving not to speak it from your own lips. "Not even those who live here do that." 

"In a way she was part of my family." His fingers pulled at the zipper closing you in. "Before Talon was involved I would have considered every one of the higher court as part of my family, even some of the members of Morrison's kingdom were family to me, but she was one of the few who saw it was a weakness and chose to exploit that trust." 

Warm, you were finally warming up, it seemed amazing what dry clothes could do. After you were clothed once more, he stayed leaned over you for a few more moments, one hand rested to the side of your head, the other holding you on your shoulder, he wanted to say something, you waited patiently for him to speak again but he pulled away instead and wrapped your blankets all around cocooning you into a mass of warmth. He looked sad, or at least his eyes were longing in a memory of another life that left him feeling empty. 

"We're almost done with the ballroom." You gave him a small smile, hoping the change of subject would brighten his eyes, but that only served to furrow them further. 

"In all honestly we probably only have another day or so left before we'll have run out of things to do in there." He pushed himself to stand and caught a glance of his face in your mirror where he stared at the hole in his cheek and the mass of sharp teeth visible within. "With all the supplies and the snow keeping us in, I suppose we'll have a ball within the week, if you'd like." 

"I'm not sure if now would be the time to-"

"Now is exactly the time to put one on." He turned to smile at you and he nervously played with his fingers. "Just before all hell breaks loose. One last hurrah before the battle." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> me, actively looking to pack in as many fan fiction cliches as i possibly can: (ง ͡◉ ͜ʖ ͡◉)ง✧
> 
> also thank you to rottengirl69 on tumblr for an amazing fanart of Reaper from R&R ;w; its amazing and i love it so so so so much!! [Check it out here! ](https://rottengirll69.tumblr.com/post/615752925834313728/after-all-how-could-anybody-learn-to-love-a)


	16. A Few Days More

Plans for preparing the castle began to move into motion while you were piled beneath quilts and resting aside the fireplace in your bedroom. Reaper set off determined to find a safer and more suitable place for you to stay before he went to check back on everyone else. The cold that ran through your veins felt achingly permanent, you knew your body just needed to raise its internal temperature, but you'd never before experienced a cold that you could feel within even while surrounded by heat. Hidden beneath the blankets and with all the time in the world to think over the way Reaper had been touching you so gently, you thoughtlessly ran your hands over the outsides of your thighs where memories of his fingers still lingered beneath ugly long pajamas. With a groan, you dropped your face into your hands and told yourself you must have somehow simultaneously had a fever and hypothermia as you felt your face rushing with heat. 

When you found your strength, you managed to push yourself to stand and peek out the balcony door. Somewhere far below Siebren and Olivia where shouting spells as they worked together, you squinted to look through the snow falling and could see a thin blue barrier that sparkled as it built into a spiderwebbing dome over the entire castle. Seeing such power almost knocked the wind out of you, with weak knees you had to lean against the doorframe as you stared up at it- you'd always assumed everyone at the castle was powerful but it was striking finally seeing their power be put to use.

The chill of the night was too much for your exhausted body to withstand. Double checking the locks on the balcony door, you turned and fell into your bed then curled all the blankets in the room around you. Heavy eyes fluttered closed as you realized just how comfortable it was to finally find your head against a pillow, a long tiresome day had you letting out long deep breaths while you began to curl your toes with the feeling of your own body creeping back into your nerves. Consciousness was something you held onto loosely that night as voices and footsteps passed back and forth by your door. 

It must have been a few hours after Reaper left you when Amélie came to check on you, the fireplace was low and she brought tea she’d made with her favorite herbs from the greenhouse, leaving it on a bedside table as she sat on the edge of your bed and quietly asked if you were alright. 

You remember mumbling in response before her fingers rested at your forehead checking your temperature. 

Sometime during the night, a quite disheveled looking Maximilien appeared to stoke the fire. His usually put-together appearance had fallen apart to untied sleeves and open plunging v-neck, even his metal looked dulled and scratched, he shook as he kneeled at the fireplace. You wished you'd had the strength to apologize for upsetting him, wished you had even the wherewithal to ask why his omnic eyes looked so particularly empty that night.

It felt like you only blinked when you opened your eyes once more and found your room empty. 

Every muscle in your body felt stiff and sore, even laying in place felt like it was taking more effort than it was worth. It seemed as if the cold was finally being chased away, tucked away beneath all those blankets could feel sweat beginning to build against the thick fabric of the full body thermal you'd been put in. It took almost all the strength you had to even manage getting your arms out and push yourself to lay on your side. Even such a simple movement felt as if you'd been kicked in the stomach, the dull pain of your body recovering forced you to sleep once more. 

When you woke again, it was to the gentle sound of breathing coming from a chair sat in front of your fireplace. The initial outline of a massive man hunched over shrouded in shadow sent a spike of fear beneath your skin, only until you realized it was Reaper who was sat low with his legs spread far out in front of him. From the angle you had laid in the bed, you could see he'd fallen asleep with his weapons in lap and his hands resting over them ready to leap into action at the first indication of trouble. There was something strangely charming about the way you could hear him breathing because of the hole in his cheek, it even made you smile as you stared. 

Those red eyes that curled over his jaw and down his arms watched you, they stared as you tried to quietly adjust beneath your covers so you wouldn't wake him, but as soon as you began to move he lifted his head and turned to check on you with deeply tired eyes. 

"Are you awake?" He whispered, squinting at you. 

"Barely." You replied softly, your legs stretched beneath the sheets, shaking as you found a happy moment of relief for your aching muscles. Your hand landed against the pillow next to your face, fingertips played with the ends of messy hair as you watched his concerned look shift into one of guilt.

"You must need more sleep." He adjusted in his seat.

"No, I'm alright." You smiled at him weakly, body still sore but feeling far better. "I'm glad to see you." 

"I'm happy you're looking a little better." He returned the compliment but returned to chewing his lip. "It was a long day, physically and mentally. Please, don't let me keep you up." 

"Thank you for helping me, Reaper." You spoke gently, just above the cracking of the fireplace he sat before. "For everything. For protecting me, for allowing me to listen to your story, for letting me have a place here-" 

"Don't exert yourself on my behalf." He chuckled, but his face fell as he looked at you with a longing stare. You didn't know what to say to make him stay, or how to ask him to without sounding like you were admitting to untold feelings. He lifted a brow towards you and you flushed as you realized you'd been staring back with furrowed brows. In a long moment of unsure silence, he pushed himself up and moved so gracefully, out of his seat and walking to you with a heavy sigh. "What's that strange look for?" 

"You're a good man." You breathed out as the edge of the bed creaked beneath his weight and he sat next to your hips. 

"I'm a decent man, who is repaying a lifetime of sins." He shook his head, correcting you and moving your blankets back over your shoulders. "Good men are not cursed with unbreakable curses." 

"I don't believe that. You were a wonderful king who opened his castle to the public, who loved his people. You're kind and you're honorable." 

"You give me too much credit." He spoke sadly as his thumb brushed against your cheek, warm and blushing now that he was so close. "I've given you the stories of a king who wanted what was best, but I've left out the dirty deeds and the bloodshed that require running a kingdom. I do not want you to mistake me for someone I am not simply because I've spared you from the worst. Yes, I loved my people but I too have done unforgivable things."

"I don't want you to feel like you need to hold things back. Tell me."

"It's late, you should sleep." He shook his head and began to push himself away, but you grabbed his wrist keeping him in place. 

"Are you afraid I'll leave if you tell me everything?" You asked and he sucked in a breath, caught off guard by your blunt question. "Do you think it will make me think so differently of you that I'd never come back if I did leave?" 

He stared at you in the flickering firelight, his chest fell with hard breaths before he reached for your hand. He sat on your bed clasped around it chewing over his thoughts before he finally began to nod quietly and squeezed you. 

"Yes, if I'm being honest with myself, I am afraid that if you knew all the horrible things I've done then you'll see me as the witch sees me. I became a monster long before I was transformed." There was shame in his voice but he stared down at your hand in his and he let out a small smile. "Your hands are warm again." 

"I don't care if it's ugly, I want to know." You begged quietly as you twisted your wrist and moved to slip your fingers between his, locking hands together. "Please." 

Wanting only to hear him, only to know who not just Reaper was but who _King Gabriel Reyes_ was, you painfully pushed yourself to the corner of your mattress and gave him room to sit at your side. His voice shook when he sighed with resignation, quietly admitting to terrible things he'd been keeping suppressed for far too long. His gloved hand, claws between your fingers looked so strange, but he was so careful with them. 

It was the early hours of the morning, your head resting on his shoulder and hands gently clasped with each other that you listened to him spilling horrors of a king who was truly just as bloodthirsty as any other king was. Once he was speaking it was almost like he was confessing- he couldn't stop himself from admitting to every little aggression and every time he found another's blood running down his hands. He admitted to battles and wars he pushed his knights into over small pointless issues, orders of no living witnesses and gagged executions held within the confines of the castle gardens. He spoke coldly of the people he let die simply because he knew he wasn't responsible for them, of the people he turned away when he knew they had nothing, sick, injured, weak, their state nor their age didn't matter if they were of no use to his kingdom then he was exactly what the witch thought of him: heartless.

Long before Reaper ever appeared, King Reyes began a tyrannical reign with pointless murders and secret plots, of growing tension between allies and close kingdoms.

It all seemed to amplify just as soon as the witch became part of his inner council, a time when he grew more and more paranoid of the world around him. 

Regardless of the life he led, you could feel in the weight of his words, the desperation in his voice, even if he was still that man who was capable of such horrors, even if he still felt the terrible urges that threatened deep within his core, he was actively fighting against every fiber of his being that wanted to give in to the worst parts of himself. 

"I have never been innocent." He finally concluded, his palm sweating against his glove after he ran out of breath. "No one in this forsaken castle is, save for you." 

"I am far from innocent." You protested as a turning clenched in your stomach, you were burning up beneath all those blankets, your legs shifting around trying to get comfortable again as he sat at your side. "I've done my fair share of lying to people to get them to tell me stories for my journals, I've pocketed things from the market that wouldn't be missed, I..." 

"Those are hardly things that should keep you up at night." He laughed coldly, your own actions seemed silly to a man who'd quite literally ripped hearts out of his victims. 

"I slept with Jesse McCree." You let out a short, sarcastic laugh at yourself. "I slept with him _twice_ so he would tell me more about some _mysterious man_ named King Reyes." 

"Oh." His grip at your fingers went limp. "I see. You two must have loved each other very much then, if he's willing to pay such a large reward for your safe return." 

"I barely knew him." You finally admitted with a weight lifting from your chest. "Reaper, now that I know what he's done, who's sided with, whatever he thought we had will never ever happen."

"You do not need to pretend for my sake." He slipped his hand away from yours, hurt to hear that you hadn't spoken of your fleeting relationship with Jesse McCree before. "And really, I can not judge you. I am a torturer, a murderer. I can't be upset with you for something you did before you ever knew what he'd done... but if you want to leave so you can go back to him because there are still feelings there, I will admit that would break my heart-" 

"I don't! I really don't, Reaper! Something about him always sat strangely with me, I mean that. He was too cocky, too guarded-" You threw your hands up with an unsure laugh. "Ugh, and- it's stupid, but he was absolutely terrible in bed, it was awful. He's awful. I'd rather be cursed to drown at the bottom of the sea for eternity than ever step foot near Jesse McCree again." 

You grabbed at his hand, holding it near your face as you examined the shine of metal claws. His hand was so big compared to yours, with nails left clawed and untrimmed, rough palms from being overworked inside used gloves, but when you held his hand with both of yours, he remained stunned that you pulled it toward your face bringing it almost to your lips. If he was upset, or jealous, whatever he was there was a stirring in your heart that begged you to fix it, to make him see that you did not think of him as the monster he saw himself. 

"I'm not leaving." You whispered and began to lift away his glove. Taking his talons from his arm seemed even more intimate than it would have been to undress him, unarming him seemed to leave him light headed and shocked. "I'm not scared of you, either. Thank you for telling me even though I know you didn't want to." 

"I did want to, I just never quite knew how to tell you." He let out a long breath as his hand was left completely uncovered, and you brought it closer to your face where a monstrous eye stared back at you from his wrist. "How could I ever expect anything of you if you never knew who you were truly dealing with?" 

How your heart could stand to continue beating as you held the hand of a man like Reaper was beyond you. The situation you were in seemed insane, the place you stayed, the man in your bed, it seemed completely unreal. It was all too quickly becoming clear that your judgment was clouded, that his actions were seen through fogged lenses because you felt something far more passionate for Reaper than you should have. If it wasn't love, it was at the very least a deep infatuation, you wanted to feel his hands over your body, you wanted to know what his lips would whisper if you kissed them, you _liked_ him. 

He held his breath as you leaned your face into his palm, his hand cupped at your cheek and your lips turned to kiss the inside of his wrist softly. At first he almost seemed like he was going to pull you to his face, almost as if was finally going to give in and close the space between you, but his cheeks flushed and he gasped in a sharp breath as he pulled sharply away from you and scrambled off the bed. 

The soft light of morning was glowing through your stained windows, brilliant yellows and reds moved across his body as he covered his mouth with his hand and turned to attend to a dying fire. 

"Ah, um-" He was stumbling over his words, trying to find a place to land as he faced away from you. "I've asked everyone not to disturb you as you recover from the incident yesterday. Siebren was particularly awkward about walking in on us, I did my best to explain, but he's a bit of a blabbermouth when it comes to gossiping with Amélie, so I assume everyone has made some, um, unfair assumptions about us. I think maybe it's best if I return to my seat here until it is time to head down to the dining room."

* * *

The amount of work that went into preparing for the ball at the close of the week was staggering, with preparations for protecting the castle coming first everyone seemed to be strained thin during the day. There were few moments when someone was not busy with something. Siebren tuning instruments to play magical melodies without an orchestra there to put in the work while he also cast varying protections spells around the castle, Olivia who was doing around the clock patrols and sending out enchanted familiars from the forest to scope out any news on sights of the witch while also working with Akande on preparing all the food for the event. Reaper spent a great deal of time in the ballroom, closed off behind grand doors decorating with what little amount of magic he knew, Amélie would also whisper of the dress she'd worked with him on designed and sewn specially for you. 

A few days after preparations began, and only a handful more away from the ball itself, everyone gathered exhausted and needing to wind down after a long day and met in the sitting room with the giant marble fireplace. Amélie brought you a gift, a knife she found deep within the weapon vaults that Akande promised to show you how to use the next day when he wasn't exhausted from shoveling snow against the bordering walls of the property. You kept waiting and waiting for Maximilien to join the fun, to have a chance to wind down for the night, but no matter how long you stared at the door he never came. 

You knew he'd been monitoring the snow. It seemed they were correct, when it snowed, it snowed for days on end. Maximilien and Siebren had managed to keep a small pathway clear out of the front door but all the other entrances were snowed in as white powder piling at least half your height up the castle walls. With the snow falling outside, you enjoyed everyone's company as you played simple card games and helped Siebren choose songs for the ball. Olivia and Amélie tried to show you how to dance properly but neither of them were good teachers after a few drinks and it wasn't long before the night seemed to get away from everyone. 

Simple nights with them were your favorite ones, the ones you would hold closest to your heart. 

If you had known that night would be the last simple one held in that sitting room, you would have appreciated the moments with them more. You would have appreciated that despite your protests that you could never be the one to save them, they gave you every opportunity they could to be alone with Reaper. That night, before you knew it, everyone had found an excuse to leave you there with him and you hadn't even noticed you were alone because you and Reaper were so lost in your own conversation about the old market that used to sell the strangest fruit in his village down the road. 

You were getting too comfortable, and you knew it but you didn't want to stop it.

Late into that night, your mind wandered and you found yourself yawning as your eyes fluttered closed. When you opened them again it took a moment for your mind to wake, you blinked slowly as you stared at a fireplace barely smoldering and you stirred against a warm body. Without realizing it, you had rested your head against Reaper’s chest and closed your eyes to enjoy the moment, not anticipating falling asleep in his arms or waking to find yourself a mess of limbs with your legs tossed over one of his.

Your small movements seemed to alert him, lifting your head caused him to groan and his arms circled at you to squeeze gently. From where you were sitting, you were surrounded by him. Your legs laid over one of his thighs, as you sat between his legs his heavy arm rested draped across you and held just below your hip. You were leaned against his core, shoulders to his ribs and head resting on his chest while his other arm fell behind your back and his fingers brushed lightly against your elbow. Although your bodies were hidden beneath a knitted blanket, if anyone were to see you there would be no denying it was the embrace of lovers. 

You woke flustered to be in such a position, but you nuzzled your face to his chest, lifting your eyes to stare up in the darkness and wonder if he was still asleep or if he was staying still just so you wouldn’t leave. You wanted to stay there longer, to feel him holding you just a few more moments before you ruined it by waking him to say you should each head to your own beds. 

“I can feel you staring at me.” He mumbled, his voice was rough and tired after you'd been looking up in the darkness for far too long. 

“I can’t even actually see you.” You smiled and lifted a hand carefully, searching for him before fingertips landed directly on the tip of his nose. Your body jumped a bit as you found him unexpectedly and you chuckled to yourself. “Oops, sorry.” 

“Not many people have put their hands in my face and walked away with them.” He warned but didn’t move a muscle. 

“I’ll count my blessings.” You sarcastically replied as you felt down to soft facial hair. As you touched him you could feel his chest fall with a quiet sigh, you laughed but he was genuine and you assumed anyone who had been this close to him in the last lifetime of years had not touched him as gently as you were. 

“What exactly are you doing?” He questioned. You slid your hand over a monstrous eye which twitched shut as you drew near, you traced his facial hair until you reached the section of his lips which lifted to a terrible hole revealing sharp teeth. 

“I want you to know I’m not afraid of you.” You breathed out, eyes staring off into the darkness as your thumb lightly slid over a fang.

"You don't have to touch my teeth to prove that." He laughed. "That feels very strange, I hope you know." 

Maybe he was right, but still, there was something calmingly therapeutic about being able to touch them and not feel that spike of danger that used to course through your veins when you looked at him. He must have felt it too, the distance between closing in, the fluttering at your core that wondered if darkness would finally feed the bravery needed to act on unspoken and confused feelings. You slid your hand over his neck, into the back of his hair as you felt his pulse racing against his throat. In the darkness you were almost unsure, but you could have sworn he whispered your name as he offered no resistance as you gently pulled his head closer to yours. 

Still curled against him, your legs thrown over his, you felt so small in hold and yet you smiled. The ends of noses were touching, his shaking breaths were pushing out warm air against your lips and all you could do was hold him as carefully as you could with hands on either side of his jaw. 

“It's late." He whispered, hands gripping at you. 

"I know." You moved, wrapping an arm around the back of his neck as your hand slid further into his hair. You could feel just how hard he was breathing, although it almost seemed like you were only hearing your own heart racing against your chest. With what little light you had, barely able to see, you hugged him tightly as you held him and you brought your face to his cheek. 

There's a noise people make just before they begin to sob, a deep series of breaths being caught within their throat, a small whine they try to suppress. That was the noise Reaper made as you kissed at the edges of his injury, at the hole in his cheek. Soft gasps that fell to controlled sighs. The skin around the hole in his face was rough and scarred, burning eyes squinted as your lips kissed softly up around his jaw and the side of his face. 

You couldn't help but smile as you felt him holding onto you as hard as he could, he was savoring every moment of your lips against his skin, every moment of you accepting him for exactly what he was. Knowing how relieved he was, how happy he was, it sent this warm tingle beneath your skin and stirred in your core. It welled in your chest, the feeling spread through your body and had you curling your fingers into his soft hair. 

He couldn't take it anymore. 

Before he could even speak your name, he turned his face and met your lips with his. With no hesitation, you kissed him so desperately you almost thought you would begin to cry. The way he kissed you back was as if he’d been left completely speechless. At first, unsure with his expression furrowed down wondering if you meant to be doing what you were actually doing, then all at once dawning with the realization that you were real and you were pushing your fingers through the base of his hair at his neck and holding him close to you. 

After the initial shock of his own actions, he tightened his hold around you and returned with a deep kiss that had you leaning back into his arms. Clawed hands gripped at the fabric of your shirt, holding tight with the impression that if he let go you would disappear from before him. 

The first moment of separation to breathe confirmed every feeling left silent for far too long. Your entire body burned, your lips curled into an overwhelmed smile and within moments he was pressing hard against your lips once again for another longing kiss. Your bodies moved together, he moved you forward until he could lower you down with your back to the rough carpet.He was heavy above you, his body so much larger than yours and yet all you could focus on was how much you never wanted to stop kissing him. The butterflies that filled your stomach with deep kiss he pressed to your lips made you nervously chuckle against his cheek and grip into his hair. 

"Is this alright?" He breathed out against you between messy kisses that laid you out beneath him, his hand slid over your hip, beneath the hem of your shirt and up your side until he rested just beneath your chest. 

"Yes-" Your body was so warm beneath his, you wanted so badly for that big hand of his to slide over your chest and touch you in every way you'd been suppressing thoughts of for months. There was a deep ache between your legs as he moved to kiss you once more, your body spiked with heat and you dug your nails at the back of his neck keeping him as close as possible. "Reaper, I think I-" 

Screaming.

Distant and muffled, heart stopping, stomach dropping screaming that sent panic through your veins and ripped you apart from Reaper as you both turned to the door.

Somewhere deep in the castle, an omnic voice was screaming as if each circuit was being ripped from their insides, as if their very life would depend on someone hearing them or not. 

You scrambled out from beneath him, moving to straighten out your clothes as he shot to his feet and you searched to find anything that would give you light.

“Stay here.” Reaper demanded with a stern and shaking voice before his heavy steps went running into the dark. 

You were gasping in the dark as he left you to process the pure adrenaline that rushed through your veins. Fuck that. You knew that omnic voice, whatever was happening to Maximilien sounded horrendous and you were not about to stand by idly as someone tortured him to death. You grabbed the knife Amélie left you and with reckless abandon ran out into the hall, chasing down the sound of dreadfully painful screams.

The last of the candles were burning, almost at their ends with wax dripping far down over sconces, your could hear running heading through the halls that would lead deep into the catacombs of the castle and you grabbed at the first torch you found that could light your way. Windows that would normally be pitch black were lit with the white of nighttime falling snow. Holding in every emotion bubbling over all at once, you ran step by step further into growing darkness until you were in a dreary catacomb far beneath floors. 

Somewhere far in front of you, Maximilien’s name was ripping from Reaper's throat as he tried to find him. With the advantage of his eyes it must have been easier for him to round corners and find his way through the labyrinth but for you, it was puzzling and overwhelming. 

Deeper in, you began to notice something staining the stone floors. 

Black oil trailed down the catacombs, filling cracks in the stone having spilled when someone stumbled through the halls. The torch in your hand wavered, your grip on it shaking until you had the wherewithal to mount it far from where the oil could reach it and you continued to press on in darkness. With a knife curled in your fist, and your other hand tracing the wall, you let darkness guide you even as your knees went weak and your pulse raced hard against your veins.

Blinded by darkness, the stink of oil burned at the inside of your nostrils. The sounds of Maximilien’s pained wailing and Reaper’s heavy echoing running guided you around corners and through empty halls that would sound as if they were coming from in front of you one moment then behind you the next. It was easy to be turned around even with light, but in the dark you felt even more helpless than you did in the clawing black clouds that threatened at your mind in your dreams. You were regretting every moment of not asking Olivia to teach you simple magic of not learning how to track someone, or learning the layout of the maze beneath the castle. 

Corner after corner you turned, Maximilien’s screams grew louder and even more disturbing. 

A light, far off in the distance down a corner was a glowing red light that could have only come from Reaper's magic.

You ran as fast as you could, ignoring the puddles beneath your feet and the fear that told you to turn around. The closer you got to them the stronger smell of oil seemed to mix with blood, you pressed your hand to your face trying to push through but the smell alone was causing your eyes to water. You could hear the sounds of Maximilien sobbing, his voice wavering between omnic and something strange, he would gasp and scream as the snapping of bones echoed through the stone walls. 

Nothing could have prepared you for what you saw as you slowed to a stop in front of two bodies on the ground. 

It was a nightmare.

The entire catacombs reeked of oil and blood, thick, black huge pools of oil led to where Reaper and Maximilien were in the very back behind old crumbling columns. You tiptoed in those final moments approaching them, afraid you would be walking in on the scene of a gruesome murder, that Reaper would have already killed whoever was causing Maximilien so much pain, but it was as you stepped carefully around oil puddles that you began to see the remnants of clothes and metal parts, of hallow metallic fingers torn from their hand and your heart dropped leaving you absolutely numb. To your sickening shock, you found two men. Reaper on his knees with arms covered in blood, and a naked man in his arms soaked in more blood than you could imagine. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (´༎ຶ ͜ʖ ༎ຶ `)♡ thank you for all the kind comments and asks about this fic, they make my heart so so so happy and i am incredibly thankful for everyone who's been reading so far!! <3333  
> also thank you again to rottengirl69 who did another fan art for r&r that i just love ahhhhhhHHHHH [Check it out here! ](https://rottengirll69.tumblr.com/post/615937796303142912/perfect-a-pure-paragon-more-art-for)


	17. When The Moment Is Right, Confess

“I told you to stay where you were!” Reaper’s voice barked at you after you stepped into the light. 

Reaper had a body in his lap, the writhing sobbing body of a semi-familiar man you knew. Blood covered the man’s skin, coming forth beneath his nails, out of his nose and lips, even his eye sockets and his scalp had bled as his the metal that once encased him mutated into human flesh. Between wailings he clutched at Reaper, begging to make the pain stop, panting and gasping in air which had evaded him for the better half of a decade. 

“I- I can’t take it- it’s too much!” The man screamed as he looked to Reaper and clawed at his arms. “This pain- am I dead?” 

Reaper glanced to you with a sorrowful look, only to turn his eyes back to the broken and bloodied Maximilien. Your knees were going weak as you stood there staring at them, Maximilien still had the same soft spoken but stern voice even when it was ripping from his throat, although it was far less metallic. Maximilien shot you a look, one that begged for you not to see him the way he was, one of guilt and harrowing. His eyes, his human eyes, naturally had this drag to them that downturned and stared sadly. They reminded you of the pleading eyes from a basset hound as he stared up at you silently pleading that you not say a word of his drastic change of appearance. 

“Can you stand?” Reaper asked him quietly, gripping behind Maximilien’s back ready to help lift him. 

“No, I can’t- I can’t- it feels as if everything in me is on fire, as if my- my very bones are being pieced back together-” He was gripping at Reaper’s shirt leaving stains of blood and oil across the previously pristinely white undershirt. “Please, I can’t bear this-” 

“I'm going to get you help, Max.” Reaper’s hold on Maximilien softened and he looked to you with a beckoning hand motioning for you to come to his side. “Come here, I need you to hold his head above his heart while I go wake Siebren.”

“Reaper, I can’t-” You thought you were going to be sick, the smell, the sight of him, it was making your head dizzy. 

“Every moment we waste he will be in pain longer.” He snapped at you. “Quickly, now!” 

Although you were shaking, you listened. Weak legs giving out beneath you, it was almost a relief to hit the floor if it weren’t for the puddles pooling around you. Reaper carefully passed Maximilien to your arms, resting the head of his laying body over your lap and you were astonished to feel how warm he was. 

“I won’t be long.” Reaper spoke quickly as he stood and began to run into the dark of the catacombs. 

For too long you sat there staring off into nothing as your clothes began to dampen. Maximilien was struggling to control fits that would have his whole body jerking in pain and you were holding back nausea. When you did finally look down, you caught a section of his arm which was still in the process of transforming. Skin had yet to cover the muscle that sickeningly sat exposed, you could see as he moved there was still wiring within that was hardening to bones with gut-wrenching cracks. 

Still sobbing, still wailing, he curled in your lap and pressed his bloody forehead to your stomach as he gripped at your side. 

“Put me out of this misery, I beg you.” He cried into your shirt. “The Titanum Curse prevents Reaper from- from being able to kill me, but you can! I can’t take it- not this pain, not this body-!” 

That was enough to snap you out of your distant numbness.

Suddenly the blood, the thick oil that mixed with it, the sounds of a body destroying itself and piecing back together again could no longer drive you away from holding him. You adjusted carefully on your legs, moving to sit in a more comfortable position with one leg propped up and you grabbed him to lift his upper half. With what little strength he still had, he moved with you, allowing himself to ragdoll against your body until he settled leaning his back against your knee and his head dropped to rest on your shoulder. Sat like that it was easier to hold him in place, it was terrifying and intimate. 

“You’re alright, I promise.” You forced yourself to say with the steadiest voice you could manage, you could see bruising covering his skin where joints had cracked in place and trying to be as gentle as possible, you lightly rubbed the backs of your fingers at the side of his neck. "I'm so sorry. I don't know what to do, I don't know how to help you-" 

He tried to respond but found a strike of pain shot through him as he moved his jaw. Instead he wept against your collarbone, he clawed at his stomach, and you sat there holding him as the curse that once made him become the very thing he hated most lifted. It seemed so cruel, so heartless to have a curse be so painful to break, to make arbitrary rules that would leave lasting effects long after a spell was lifted. The pain Maximilien experienced there, screaming out his lungs against your shoulder was only the beginning of a lifetime coming to terms with a body he'd only just rejected. 

Although you could physically feel his body becoming organic in your arms, you were determined to not let it deter you from keeping him held against you. His hard gasps, his sobs that dried to nothing more than panicked hyperventilating, you forced yourself to stay there no matter how taxing it became to listen to him scream. In small attempts to soothe him you would rub at his shoulders or his neck, uncaring of the blood beneath your fingernails because you could feel his body relaxing however slightly it may have been when you did. His curse was an ugly one, but you would not allow the witch to win in her sick game of deterring acts of kindness. 

It felt like an eternity waiting for Reaper to return. 

"How is he?" Siebren's voice surprised you as it boomed against the walls and he stepped out into view.

"In a rough state." You spoke quietly, your fingers combing through the ends of soaked hair as Maximilien leaned exhausted and trembling against the crook of your neck. He was still trying to scream, but his throat was only allowing heaving. "His voice gave out, he's in a lot of pain." 

"We'll take him from here." Reaper appeared at your side, kneeling and moving to take Maximilien from you. 

"Is he going to be okay?" You handed him over slowly. As Maximilien passed from your arms to Reaper's he caught your eyes and you could see how bloodshot they were with burst vessels staining the whites. 

"I imagine this will be the worst of it, physically. After his omnic transformation, he was up on his feet within hours." Siebren spoke above you. There was a silence at the implication of being okay strictly in the physical sense. You only began to shake when he was no longer in your arms, Siebren helped you to your feet and grimaced as he looked at your newly blood and oil soaked clothes. That galaxy in his skull, the stars that glittered at the back of his mind glowed with a dull blue before he moved to place a hand over Maximilien's chest. "He's in the final stages of transformation, it's best not to move him just yet." 

"How much longer?" You asked with a hand curled over your heart. 

"Don't worry yourself with it." Reaper looked to you, all those monstrous eyes of his fixated down on Maximilien for once. "You should go get cleaned off, rest if you need it."

"Reaper, I-"

"Go." He said softly, not a demand, not in anger, rather asking for you to no longer subject yourself to the gruesome scene. 

Siebren's magic lit your way out of the catacombs. It felt unreal to be walking again, your legs were static beneath you, chest heavy with smothered breaths. At the very least, you had the wherewithal to carry your soaked shoes in your hands rather than leave horrific footprints along the carpets lining the halls. You made your way up flights of stairs until you found yourself on your floor, passing right by your room and heading straight to the washroom.

That gigantic tub with water that steamed and hazed the air wrapped you with the exact comfort you needed after holding a man screaming in your arms for so long. You dropped your shoes on the marble floor and without a second thought walked right into the massive pool. Warm. It was warm and weightless, no longer could you smell the reek of the catacombs, only amber and orchids dancing in the air around you. Through one of the windows, you could see the soft light of morning beginning to turn the sky, and you stayed there sat to your chest in the water with your eyes closed as you dropped your head back. 

Half awake, you stirred only when you heard muttering voices from the hall. You lifted your head just in time to see Amélie staring at you in shock. She let out a sharp scream at the sight of you, your appearance must have scared her as the basket of soaps she carried whet clattering to the floor and she slapped a hand over her mouth to stop herself from screaming anymore. Olivia stopped dead in her tracks, her eyes went wide and she clutched at her stomach. 

“Sorry.” You breathed out confused, eyes dulled as you stared down to the water around you which had stilled and was left murky swirling around you. 

"Did he hurt you? If Reaper did something to you I will put a bullet between his eyes myself-" Olivia started as she dropped her things to the ground and began to rush into the bath. 

"No, no- I'm fine. I'm sorry, I'm okay." You looked down and realized you'd climbed into bath still fully dressed and your face flushed with embarrassment. 

"I should go get Siebren, you look unwell-" Amélie clutched at her robe and turned to leave. 

"It's Maximilien." You smiled, it was small and your lips twitched as they lifted. "He broke his curse. He-he's human again." 

Neither of them moved, they stared hard with open mouths unsure if they heard you correctly. Amélie's usually purpled skin paled and her hands searched for the wall to lean against before falling to it. Olivia sat in the tub, having only just walked beneath the water she could do nothing more than heave deep breaths and search the air for answers to questions you couldn't help her with. 

You were crying. You don't know when it started or why, but as you sat there, clothed in the bath with their eyes locked on your every word, tears were streaming silently down your cheeks. 

"Reaper and Siebren are with him right now, making sure he's okay." You finally spoke again and lifted your hands to wipe at your face. "It was a horrible sight. I- I can't imagine what this castle must have been like the day the witch's curses fell on you, I saw so little of what it can to do someone and I-"

"He never said anything." Amélie breathed out. "He'd been pulling away from everyone and I didn't know why-" 

"He must have been scared." Olivia turned to look at Amélie. "To finally accept what happened to him, to know that he would be put through that pain again, wouldn't you be scared too?"

"Of course." She looked down at her own hands, clasping them together. "It must have been awful to witness that. I'm sorry we weren't there to help."

"He purposefully hid himself as far as he could from everyone. I don't think he wanted help." You rubbed at your eyes and watched as Olivia glided towards you in the water. She rested a hand on your arm, pulling at the wet fabric before motioning for Amélie to join her. You looked to the red that surrounded your body. "Sorry I made the water in here... like this." 

"It's an enchanted bath, give it some time and it will clean itself." Amélie spoke as she carefully climbed in. 

"I apologize for jumping to conclusions," Olivia said with a pained voice and cupped water in her hands to bring it over your hair. "I know Reaper would never hurt you, I just- well you know how he is." 

"Oh yes, I absolutely do." Your tears began to dry at the memory of his lips against yours in the sitting room.

He consistently proved to you he was more man than monster, over and over his opportunities to show the worst sides of himself only revealed the man you felt him to be. Amélie looked through soaps, searching for one that could clean grime from you as you shakily began to pull off your clothes and slap them into sopping piles at the side of the bath. 

You washed away Maximilien's black oil, scrubbed at his dried blood that stuck to the crook of your neck where his face sobbed into. Olivia helped with your hair, Amélie with finding something to glide beneath your nails to clean them. Slowly, the water became crystal clear once more and your nose cleared to only the scents of flowers from the greenhouse. 

* * *

As you understood it, Reaper and Siebren brought Maximilien to the infirmary around the middle of the day when you were sleeping after your bath. Akande kept watch over you as you slept through the morning, you missed a halfhearted breakfast and a bedside discussion with Maximilien if he would rather postpone the ball or continue as planned. The way Reaper imitated him, relaying how the conversation went told you Maximilien still had his dry sense of humor and his aptitude for keeping on schedule. It seemed ridiculous that he would even ask that everyone still throw a ball, but at the very least it still gave you something to look forward to as you avoided him over the course of the days following his transformation. 

After a day long stay in the infirmary, Maximilien appeared in the hall as you were making your way through the castle from a training knife fighting session with Akande to help Siebren prepare dinner. You couldn't help but have some sort of knee jerk reaction when you saw him cleaned up for the first time. 

His skin was still covered in bruising, but without the blood pouring over his face you could see just how handsome he was. Black hair he'd slicked back with a few strands falling free in front of his eyes, he was rubbing at his cheek above neatly trimmed facial hair that curved along the edge of his jaw until it came to a point at his chin. Those downturned sad eyes remained staring at you, waiting for you to say _anything_ as you focused on small circular scars over his forehead healing where omnic red lights once glowed. He paused as he saw you freeze and grip at your sides almost acting as if you were afraid of him. He still seemed in very much in shock himself. 

"How are things coming along with Akande?" He asked, his voice strangely un-omnic. 

"Fine- I have to go." You rushed past him, too afraid to ask how he was doing, too afraid of the image of him curled in your lap draining blood. 

It felt as if you couldn't focus, couldn't bring anything up without feeling like you were going to bubble over. How were you supposed to look him in the eyes after he'd begged you to end his life and free him from pain? How were you to continue acting as if nothing happened between you and Reaper that night in the sitting room as everyone rushed to finish the ballroom preparations before the week was out? It seemed Reaper was unsure where he stood, you ran from him as well, avoiding any confrontation of your growing feelings. It was easy for him, he could hide behind his mask and avoid your unsure gaze, but you were subject to the questioning looks of housemates who could clearly tell something had happened. 

There was still an air of worry. 

The threat of the witch heightened after Maximilien's transformation, whether it was a reminder of her power or simply paranoia about how devastating an effect she could have, you found that those days leading to the ball were ones that sat unsettled in your stomach. 

Two days before the ball, you were in the dining room far after breakfast had been served, thinking you were entirely alone you stood at the window overlooking the murky lake out back watching as the snow slowed to nothing more than a few flakes every few minutes. The storm was about to pass, the grounds of the castle would only be protected for as long as snow piles remained pushed against the walls surrounding the castle. You knew for at least a few days more you were safe, and yet you still felt so troubled. 

You must have been pondering for far too long, you didn't hear the quiet footsteps approaching behind you, but you did feel his presence as he stood at your side. 

"Have I scared you away?" He asked while you remained looking out the window. 

"Not at all." You held at your arms, biting back a small smile. "I think I've just been a little overwhelmed." 

"We've all been." He breathed out and turned to watch you. "We'll have our chance to really let loose soon, but after that you're probably going to see many of us at our worst. If that witch attacks us, we will show the ugliest sides of our anger."

"How do you think she'll attack?" 

"She's quick witted, I have no doubts she has multiple plans on how to take you from us. If she chooses the brute force option I have no doubt she'll arrive with Jesse McCree and an army at her side. Although, she prides herself in finding a person's weakness and preying on it. If there was anything she could use to manipulate you, to trick you, she would choose that route instead." He reached out to rest a hand on your shoulder, large fingers played at the edge of your shirt and touched lightly at your skin as he stared for far too long. "Are you sure you're alright?" 

"I'm-" You shook your head and sucked at your cheeks. "Violence isn't in my nature. The most death I've seen is dead bouquets and bodies beneath sheets on ships sailing over the ocean. Seeing Maximilien like that, I don't know, Reaper, it was too much. There's no possible way my heart will ever be at ease unless I know everyone feels free to walk the grounds they're trapped on. Our worlds are just... very different." 

"They are indeed." His hand fell from you, disheartened. Whatever you wanted to say was caught in your throat, an apology or a plea, an admission to feeling something more than strange infatuation, a scream of fear with the looming unknown. You couldn't bring yourself to say anything, so instead you stood there in silence staring at your feet until he nodded in understanding and turned on his heels. "I'm sorry to bother you, I just saw you as I was passing by and thought I'd come in to visit before returning to finish the ballroom." 

"Thank you-" You finally breathed out, you turned to catch him, grabbing at his wrist to stop him from fleeing for only a moment. "Reaper, I-" 

All those eyes on you, his chest fell with a heavy exhale. Your hand slid to his, fingers curled together in a gentle embrace. 

"...You?"

"I think we should talk, the night of ball. Maybe after everyone has drunk themselves to sleep." You nervously laughed and squeezed his hand. "If that would be okay with you?" 

"Yes. Yes, that would be more than okay." He returned the squeeze. "Would it be alright if I walked you to the ballroom? Normally it would be customary to pick you up myself in one of our main carriages, but that might be a bit hard to do when you're five flights up." 

"That would be lovely." You let your hand fall from his and held it close to your heart. You'd given yourself time to properly think, allowed yourself a moment to step back and assess what it really was you felt the former king of the castle, and now you'd committed to telling him those feelings the night of the ball. "Do you need any help right now?" 

"No, we're just about done. I want it to be a complete surprise to you since you put in all that work to fix it up with me." He smiled, genuinely actually smiled and placed that hand which had been in yours to his lips. "Rest easy these next few days, you'll need to be prepared. Talon knows how to throw one hell of a party."

The day before the bell spirits began to buzz with excitement. Maximilien even found the strength to wander down to the dining room to join everyone for breakfast and eat in front of the others for the first time since becoming human once more. No longer was everyone sitting the opposite side of the table from Reaper, no everyone clumped together near him and seemed in high spirits as they toasted to the final preparation day. Siebren was in a particularly good mood, he would hum one of the tunes he'd set his magical orchestra to and sweep you off your feet as you cleaned the dishes only to dance you around the kitchen and leave you laughing at his sung tunes. 

At midday, Amélie gathered you and Olivia in her room to discuss how they thought they night would go as they cleaned and polished their one royal crowns. When Amélie first brought hers out, you weren't quite sure what you were looking at- her crown was made of thin gold wires all twisted around in some kind of tangled web that would hang over her forehead and come to a point at the bridge of her nose. What took your breath away was the veil of delicate gold chains that hung in front where it would hide her face completely.

"Those of us involved in Talon but not of the highest council were not to show our faces in court." She explained. "Siebren's is similar, both were cast with spells that allow the wearer to see through the metal. My dear Gérard had an exact copy of mine, minus the chains, of course." 

"Reaper was always one for theatrics." Olivia sighed as she held hers in the air. 

Her crown was more of a tiara than anything else, gold with a brilliant pink jewel in the center, it was a dainty band that would rest over her forehead with a chain that would curl over the center of her head where she'd shaved her hair. At the back a long chain trailed down her neck, over her arm and it slacked with room to move where the chain connected to a far more intricate handpiece. The thin gold of the tiara similarly would wrap at her wrist in a bracelet and more chains spread to tiny rings on each of her fingers made specially to rest on every joint. 

"They're both beautiful." You remarked as you laid in Amélie's bed and thought of Reaper's crown sitting on the bookshelf in your room. 

"They're useless now, is what they are." Olivia tasked. 

"Still, I think he'll be very pleased to see us wearing them." Amélie turned to her mirror and placed hers over her head as her shoulders rolled back.

By night, everything was in place for the ball the next day. Everyone seemed to have scattered to check all the protections against the witch so the party could proceed in peace, lights in windows stayed on late into the evening either due to nerves or excitement. It was a happy, and strange, feeling to be so excited for something. Having one thing to grasp onto and hold your breath for. The ball would be fun, drinking and dancing always was, but you were looking far more forward to sitting somewhere quiet alone with Reaper and finally having the heart to heart you truly needed. 

One more day. Only one more day. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ( ͡◉ ͜ʖ ͡◉) the time is upon us, prepare yourselves!!
> 
> Thank you again to mddnzart who make a wonderful fan art of Reaper ;w; you guys are all way too nice to me, i'm getting spoiled by you! [Check it out here! ](https://mddnzart.tumblr.com/post/616536071304593408/i-made-a-spooky-gabe-inspired-by)


	18. Tonight Is The Night

In the mornings, your room up on the fifth floor of the former Reyes castle would smell of firewood and wildflowers. In the mornings, you would curl comfortably beneath flannel sheets and you would wake with your hand on a pillow set at your side reaching for a lover you hadn't yet taken. In those winter mornings, you would wake at even the quietest creaking of a floorboard from the hall as worry welled in your chest, but that morning of the ball was particularly quiet. Akande was asleep in one of the chairs facing your fireplace, at some point in the night he’d switched with Siebren. Akande’s heavy metal arm hung over the edge of the chair he rested in and his knuckles brushed against the wood floor with every soft breath that filled his lungs. Despite his presence, it was the morning sun that woke you later than it usually would. Instead of soft purple skies lighting your stained glass windows and covering your floor in colorful squares, it was a warm sun that had already peaked over the mountains and shined brightly into your room making you squint as you lifted your head.

When you stirred beneath your sheets, Akande shot up in his seat, ready for action at the slightest movement. Instead of a fight, he found you with your legs curled to your chest, still buried beneath quilts, and a small smile greeting him as you were smoothing down your bed hair. Although you would have preferred to wake to Reaper, at the very least you weren't waking to black clouds and dying plants. 

“Goodmorning, Akande.” Your tired voice croaked out. 

“Morning, big day ahead.” He smirked with a deep groan as he stood and stretched, there was a twinkle in his eye that told you he was actually excited for the day to get on. “Are you looking forward to it?” 

“I am. Not sure what to expect.”

“Don’t look so nervous!” He laughed and grabbed his coat which was left hanging off the back of the seat. “It is a celebration. We will have fun. If that ugly woman shows her mug we will beat her down before you even know she arrived, you don't need to worry about a thing.” 

“I like the confidence.” You laughed. 

He left with a nod and a promise to be as gentlemanly as he could manage later that evening. 

Your quiet morning started slow. Slow to pull yourself out of your blankets, slow to relight your fireplace, slow to gather your things and prepare yourself to bathe as you usually did during those mornings at the castle. It was a moment of solace, of calm before the evening turned to a dinner you were sure to overstuff yourself at and spinning on a ballroom floor. Amélie and Olivia had already washed up without you, even the bathroom was quieter than usual as you sunk into the steam of the tub. On any other day you would have missed breakfast, and if you had Reaper would have been at your door asking if you were feeling alright, but the day of the ball breakfast was not served as the kitchen was focused solely on finishing the massive meals for the evening. 

You didn't see Reaper all morning, although that was probably for the better considering the butterflies that fluttered at your core whenever you thought of him. Everyone was so busy getting ready for the ball that you weren't even sure what you were supposed to be doing. It seemed they took everything off your hands, but in terms of making yourself presentable for it you didn't even know where to start- you ended up puttering around your room as your hair dried. 

It had completely stopped snowing, the storm that buried the castle now broke to bright sunlight that began to melt it from the roof leaving long icicles hanging off the edges. Even in the sunlight, when you opened your balcony door your breath still puffed out in the cold air and left you shivering until you returned to your warm fireplace. Out of boredom, you were sorting through your clothes wondering when you'd finally see the dress Amélie and Reaper had been secretly working together on.   
  
In your laundry, you'd accidentally taken some of the dishrags that you were sure you would lose if you didn't return them right away. No one urgently _needed_ those rags, but returning them would give you a chance to seek a taste of the dinner that was being prepared for the ball, and going without breakfast was torturing you as the smell of spices was slowly rising through the castle halls. 

When you finally emerged from your room and began towards the stairs, Maximilien called your name as he stood in his door, you paused with a held breath and turned to meet his sad eyes finding you were still at a loss for words when you looked to his still healing body. Nervously playing with loose threads on old towels, you stood there unsure what to say. 

“Would you allow me the honors of fixing your hair for the evening?” He tapped a comb between his fingers and leaned against the doorframe. “Unless Amélie has already offered-” 

“No, no one has.” You finally found your voice as you realized you’d been staring at the bruising around his collarbone where it was visible beneath the plunging v of his shirt. “That would be lovely, Maximilien. Thank you. I just- I need to run these to the kitchen, but I’ll come right back.” 

"Of course, take your time. I'll be here whenever you're ready." He nodded toward you and you could feel your heart racing as you leaped down the stairs to finish your chore as quickly as possible. 

You couldn't quite place what it was about him that made you so uneasy, whether it was the purple and green spots across his skin or the memories of bones grinding against each other as he screamed for his life, whatever it was had your stomach turning any time your eyes met his. Wandering through the fancily decorated dining room and into the kitchen where pans were steaming away, you were clutching the rags and twisting them around absentmindedly wondering what you could possibly have to say to Maximilien. You were so caught up in your own thoughts, moving so quickly, that you hadn't even responded to Olivia's offer to taste the batter of some dessert she'd been mixing.

Before heading to his room you paused at the top of the stairs to gather yourself, to calm your racing heart before you spent a good chunk of time with his now human hands twisting through your hair. You lingered in his doorway for a moment, watching him as he struggled to untie a string at the wrist of his shirt. His back was turned to you, muttering to himself as he picked at a knot so he could push his sleeves up. 

"Do you need some help with that?" You asked, having not yet crossed the threshold into his room. 

"Ah-" He turned to you with a gentle smile and gestured for you to come to his side. "Yes, please. These joints of mine are still pretty stiff it seems." 

He held out his arm as you untied the string at his wrist. You could feel him watching you, feel the unsure air resting heavy around the room. Able to push the sleeves of his billowing shirt up, he turned to his room and you sat at a velvet cushioned stool next to his bed. He had yet to slick his hair back, black strands fell around his face partially obscuring the scars at his forehead. 

“It’s strange.” He laughed as he dug through an intricately carved box resting at his writing desk. “You stare at me now the same way all the others did when I was first transformed into an omnic.” 

"I don't mean to stare-" 

"Don't apologize. It will take some getting used to, believe me I know this." His fingers combed through your hair, moving all of it out of your face and he studied you with a sympathetic look. "I too am still adjusting to it. Sometimes I pass by mirrors and scare myself when I see human eyes looking back at me. I can't tell the difference between being hungry or tired. It's silly almost, I feel like a child again learning to understand my own damn body." 

"I can't even imagine what you must be dealing with." You watched how he moved his hands, there was still a stiff robotic quality about them like he hadn't quite gripped with how fluidly he could move his fingers. 

"It all makes me feel a bit lost." The way he was pulling your hair back sent little shivers down the back of your neck. He thoughtlessly combed through, staring off at a spot on the ground. "It is bittersweet, I suppose. I am grateful I no longer need to oil my joints twice a day, but in return shaving is so cumbersome. There are things I'm sure I will miss, and things that will annoy me about being human once again. I'm still figuring it out." 

You bit your tongue, stopping yourself from asking other prying questions when he already seemed vastly uncomfortable. He worked in strained silence for long moments, combing through and pulling at your hair until he could get it just where he wanted while stringing in incredibly thin strands of gold. Although your stomach was shifting at the sight of him, you trusted him entirely. Maximilien must have had practice preparing for many balls, having been of the upper circles of the kingdom for so long you knew he would have far more expertise on what to do to make you presentable for the party. You'd caught him doing Amélie's hair before, when he was still covered in metal- he was particularly fond of giving her cascading curls or flower woven braids. 

Without a mirror, you were left to look between either the floor or the frills of his shirt. 

"May I ask you something rather personal?" He asked after far too long, while he pushed pins topped with pearls into your hair keeping it in place. 

"I suppose that would only be fair considering how much you've shared with me over these months." 

"Have you fallen in love with Reaper?" He paused to meet you with those sad downturned eyes of his. 

"Oh..." You looked to your lap, sure there was blushing pulling to your cheeks. 

"Forgive me if that was too bold." The expression on his face wasn't looking for forgiveness, it was a look of caution. "We've all seen how you two look at each other, how you spend all your time with one another, always sitting so close together- I mean, we hadn't seen him smile in over seven years let alone wander around the castle without his mask, and suddenly when he's with you it's as if we're seeing our king again. You make him happy, no matter if there is a fated "one" for him or not, you have brought a light to this castle we have not seen since the curse fell on us. If you love each other, rejoice in it, don't hide it." 

"That's just it, Maximilien, I don't _know_ if it's love. If it was I probably wouldn't question it." You finally said, lifting your eyes to meet his gaze again, your fingers nervously playing together. "Even if it was, I doubt I'm anything more than an infatuation for him after almost a decade of being alone." 

"You should hear the way he speaks of you when you're not around." Maximilien laughed as he twisted a section around his finger. "If that is not love, then I would very much like to know what love is." 

"Love is such a final word." You spoke to your lap. "I like him very much that much is true, but love..." 

"I think you must know him as we do. Not as Reaper, the shadow that haunts the halls of this terrible place. You must see him as our dear Gabriel Reyes." 

"I'm not so sure he wants to be known by that name." There were certain lines you'd crossed with Reaper, ones you couldn't take back, but his hold identity, to be known again as the king he believed he no longer was felt far too personal. 

Maximilien kneeled in front of you with a gentle sigh and moved to decorate your face with what little cosmetics were still left after all those cursed years. His unsteady fingers pressed halved pearls in crescents at the edges of your eyes, decorating you with a final touch before he stepped aside and brought up a mirror. Despite the handicap of inflamed joints, the work he'd done took your breath away. You felt like you were glowing, surely he must have used some kind of magic to make you feel so beautiful but at no point had he given any indication of it. 

You touched your cheek, almost testing to check if you were really the person in the mirror before you looked to Maximilien. 

"Well, do you feel ready for tonight?" He asked with a small smile. 

"Maybe-" You held back overwhelmed tears as they welled at the corner of your eyes, you couldn't smile because you were so nervous thinking about the evening. "I feel so pampered- don't get me wrong, I love it, it's just strange to see myself like this. It's beautiful, I feel beautiful. I think I'm as ready as I ever will be. Thank you Maximilien, I don't know how to repay you."

"Just allow me to cut in between you and Reaper for one dance." He laughed as he set aside the mirror and helped you to your feet. "Although I'm not sure how good of a partner I'll be when I'm like this."

"I'm happy you're coming at all." You managed a small smile. 

He rested his hands on your arms, holding you gently, those sad eyes of his apologizing silently for the fear he knew he still struck through your heart.

"Go on, then. Dinner soon, I'd hate for you to be late." He placed a few pats at your arm before pulling away to untuck his shirt and look through his dresser.

* * *

When you returned to your room, the dress was waiting laid out on your bed in all its gorgeous glory. For far too long, you just stood over it, your fingers pressed to your lips stopping a gasp as you ran the flowing fabric beneath your palm. It took your breath away, it was so beautiful it almost felt like it must have been a mistake to be waiting there for you. A tag with your name on it laid across the collar, a note from Reaper and Amélie hoping you liked it. 

The entirety of the dress fabric was black with barely visible patterns of pressed leaves stitched in gold at the hems, beneath the mass of the dress laid an off white tule beneath the skirt would show if you danced in circles. Nerves were building as you began to dress, trying not to ruin Maximilien's work and knowing you were getting that much closer to dancing with Reaper had your palms sweating. You held your breath as you pulled the underskirt over your hips, the inside of the tule was lined with silk so the fabric wouldn’t scratch at you- just the thought of Reaper sewing something together that would be resting against your skin all night had your cheeks burning. 

Your fingers dragged along the main body of the dress, it seemed to be in two pieces. A top with straps that fell to a low neckline, handstitched with boning to hold you in, it fit you perfectly after you tied it tightly with a thin ribbon at the front of your chest. The skirt hooked to the top at your waist with small clasps and a string to tie it even tighter in the back. After a long look in the mirror, you swung the base of the skirt around as soon as it fell over your legs, it felt ridiculous how much fun it was to twirl it and throw it around that you caught yourself laughing. Even the simple black base of the dress was beautifully crafted, throwing it around and having the fabric trail in the air until it settled back to the underskirt had you feeling like royalty. 

You could hear heavy steps in the hall, Maximilien had already dressed and from the sounds of it, he was wearing heeled boots. Although muffled, he tapped on Amélie's door and called out inviting to walk her downstairs. 

You stood there in the silence that followed her gasp and unintelligible delighted speaking staring at yourself in the mirror, pondering how bizarre it must have been to see him dressed for the ball as a human again. 

Turning back to the bed there was one last piece left to complete the dress, Reaper’s true craftsmanship was in the sewing of the main jacket that was to be worn over it. Made from that same soft black fabric at the bodice and the most beautifully sewen black lace you’d ever seen at the arms, hemlines, and neck, you almost felt as if you shouldn’t touch it because of how delicate it looked.

Carefully lifting it, watching yourself in the mirror, you shugged it over your shoulders and began to button the fastens that lined the front from the waist to just barely over your chest covering the ribbon of the undergarment. On top of each of the fastens were small pearls, you were gentle moving them afraid you would tear one off by accident. The neckline of the jacket was wide, almost falling to your shoulders where sleeves hugged your arms until just below the elbow. Those incredible sleeves of black lace fell heavy into long dramatic bell sleeves that came to a point almost down to your knees. That same black lace cascaded out of the bottom of the jacket, over the skirt of the dress ruffling high in the front then curving lower in the back until it rested with the hemline of the dress beneath. 

By the time you were fully dressed and staring at yourself in the mirror you were practically out of breath. Winded not only by the effort of the layers, but the sheer striking image of seeing yourself in clothing a king himself created just for you. You were lightheaded, on the verge of nervous sobs even as you tied ribbons of your shoes at your ankles and stood to give yourself one final look over.

It was unreal. Sobering and frightening.

If looking in the mirror and seeing yourself like that was what feeling like royalty meant, you were positive you weren't ready for it. 

Knocking. 

Knocks at your door that you recognized and definitely weren't prepared for.

When you didn't answer, Reaper called your name hesitantly. 

Your hand rested on the door handle for far too long before you timidly opened it and found a real king standing in the hall. Reaper had his mask on, but you could almost feel the way he was staring down at you in stunned silence until you stepped back, inviting him in. 

"You-" He was at a total loss for words, his chest shuttered with short breath as he turned away to compose himself and cleared his throat. 

He wore a massive flowing cape made of the same fabric as the undergarment of your dress, black with small gold leaves curling up from the bottom. That cape pinned at his shoulders hiding his arms as he paced to the other side of your room, you could hear something clattering beneath his cape, hidden away out of your sight and he pushed out a small nervous laugh before he looked to you over his shoulder. 

"Would you turn around, please? I brought the final piece, I wanted it to be a surprise." 

"The whole thing was a surprise." You bit at the corner of your lip and turned your back to him. "Reaper it's gorgeous. For just one night surely it was far too much work-" 

"Nonsense." His voice was much closer, his body now directly behind yours and you heard shifting of fabric. He ran the backs of his fingers over your exposed neck sending a shiver down your spine, he wore gloves and by the way he was keeping the edges of his fingers lifted from you, you assumed his usual bladed talons decorated the ends. "I need you to hold still for just a few moments." 

Had time stopped? It felt as if the world stopped spinning and the atmosphere came crashing down.

The entire universe was just you and Reaper standing in that guest bedroom on the fifth floor, his arms circled you and he placed something cold and heavy carefully over your chest. You couldn't help but gasp in disbelief as you looked down to find stand after strand of pearls twisting down over your chest, some even hanging as low as your waist. He fastened a thick strap at the back of your neck then alleviated some of the weight by moving sides of the pearls to your shoulders where he strapped them in place creating decorative epaulets made entirely of the pearls. 

"Reaper-" You breathed out, unable to catch up with your racing mind as you reached to touch the strands at your neck. "My god, this must be every pearl in the kingdom!" 

"Do you like it?" He asked softly as his hands slid over your waist and brought you into a gentle hug with your back to his chest. 

"I love it." You closed your eyes and rested your hands over his arms, swaying silently as you bit back a disbelieving smile. "I- I'm speechless." 

You turned in his arms, shifting to face him so you could throw your arms around his shoulders and hug him in return.

As you held him, as your arms tightened and refused to let go, you looked beyond his shoulders to your bookshelf where a collection of things you'd gathered at your time in the castle sat. Journals all filled beginning to end with messy notes, the witch's spellbook, pressed flowers and herbs from the greenhouse, a picture of Genji and Hanzo you found rummaging through an old room that you had every intention of returning to the brothers, but the thing that shined the brightest, the one that stuck out the most, was an onyx crown with tall sharp spires lifting into the air and glittering red rubies that called to be returned to the head of a king. 

"Reaper?" You asked quietly, your lips against his mask. “Would you kneel, please?”

"Kneel?" Although he hesitated as he pulled away, he slowly lowered to a knee in front of you.

He stayed still as you stepped away to grab it, not even looking over his shoulder to check what you were doing, instead he remained on his knee with his hands nervously gripping at his thighs. 

When you returned, you finally got a good look at him. Dressed exactly as a king should be, he was draped in blacks and off-whites, the only color on him was red in small accents like the sash that hung over his chest and gold with a large medal dangling above his stomach. You looked down at him for a few breathless moments before you slid your fingertips over the jaw of his mask from the chin to the back. His chest heaved as you rounded to the back of his mask and flicked at clasps allowing it to loosen so you could push at the edges.

With tense shoulders he waited, neck muscles strained as you lifted his mask over his face and revealed his surprised eyes. Carefully combed through hair flopped to the side of his head and he whispered your name almost as a sob falling from his lips. 

“I want to see your face.” You spoke as he stared up at you pleading for you to leave him covered. “Everyone does.” 

“No one wants to look at a monster all night.” 

“They won’t see a monster.” You lifted the crown, holding it with intent between both hands. His eyes watched you carefully, there was a calm panic in them that had his hands shaking where they gripped at his thighs. “They’ll see their king.” 

His eyes fell closed, lips parted in a shuttering breath as you placed the crown over his head. A perfect fit, the cold black metal that jutted into tall spires with jewels complimented his kingly clothing. There was something so absolutely natural about it, a crown exactly where it should be. 

He couldn’t open his eyes even after your fingers left the crown. He seemed almost afraid to face you, or face himself, afraid to feel the weight of it once more resting over him.

However long he needed, however long it took him to open his eyes- you would give him all the time he needed to process it.

Your hand moved to his chin, held him gently at his jawline and your thumb rubbing at the scar surrounding the hole in his cheek. The room was so quiet, the entire castle felt as if it was at a complete standstill before you leaned forward and placed the softest kiss you could manage to the side of his face. He seemed frozen, sucking in his lips as he bit down at the corners and shook his head.

You lowered to your knees, bringing yourself down to the floor with him as your dress billowed out around you. 

"If it's too much-" You started softly, your hands moving to either of his arms. 

"It's not." He immediately began to retort with a gasp. Eyes still shut tight, he moved to hold you blindly at your elbows. "It's not, I- I'm honored. I just need a moment, I need- I just need to hold you, I think." 

Caught up in a moment of passion, he pulled you against him. His arms circled at your body holding you tight and he buried his face against your hair. Breath huffed out against your neck and you returned his hug with an equally as needy hold, your arms at his shoulders and holding him at the back of his head. One of his hands gripped you at the back of your dress, holding you as he adjusted to keep you as close as possible. The other held at your shoulder blade and his lips pressed at your cheek, eyes still shut tight and his brows furrowed down with worry. 

"I'm so sorry, I..." He slowly pulled away, finally giving you a moment to breathe after he was practically crushing you. His eyes finally opened, even monstrous ones looking at you with love. "I didn't expect this. I can't begin to tell you how much it means that _you_ were the reason I wear it once more." 

"You mean a lot to me." You spoke with a small smile and let your hands fall over his chest. "Not just to me, to everyone here." 

"Thank you for wearing this, too." He was trembling with the ends of talons lightly trailing down your arms, he moved to cover his smile with the back of his hand. "I didn't think you could look any more beautiful than you already are." 

"Thank you for putting in the work for it!" You laughed and pushed up to kiss his cheek once more, breaking him out in his own relieved smile. You pushed yourself to stand, holding out your hands with an offer to help him up. "Come on, we can't spend all night here, can we? From the smell of it, dinner has already been served." 

His mask remained on the floor of your room, laying over an old carpet as you left arm in arm with him down the hall and off to the stairs.

* * *

The dress trailed behind you on the steps, he walked carefully avoiding the ends so he wouldn't rip his work or trip you. With your arm hooked at his, you could feel how warm he was beneath that cape he was wearing. Even as you walked, as you held his arm, you found those monstrous eyes of his were watching you intently the whole way down to the dining room. He was nervous about seeing them that way again, about having the king's crown sitting once more upon his head before he faced a council of people who last saw him wearing it the night the castle drowned in blood. 

Just before the doors, he let his arms fall and took your hand in his with fingers clasped together. One final look to you, eyes full of unsure hope as he let out one final calming sigh before those dining room doors pushed open to the noises of a room bright with talking and clinking of glasses that came to a screeching halt as you appeared at Reaper's side in the doorway. 

All eyes fell to him in shocked silence. 

Amélie, whose face was hidden behind the metal chains of her mask seemed to be just as shaken as everyone else, unable to process what she was seeing she dropped the chalice in her hands and it clattered to the floor. Standing there holding her hand over her heart in a dress that hugged her body in silk, sheer fabric at billowing sleeves and a plunging neckline that went all the way down to her waist exposing her purple-tinted skin- she looked almost as if she was going to faint as she grabbed the backrest of the closest chair and cried out. 

"King Reyes!" Her voice was just as surprised as it was smiling. 

"Sir-" Akande stood from his seat slowly. Dressed in his military best, his ceremonial jacket with braided chord brass buttons lined the front in two columns. He wore his crown too, made of the same brass as his arm, it rested low over his forehead and there seemed to be intricate engravings across it. There was almost no hesitation as he brought his fist to his chest in a salute to his king. "Welcome in, sir."

Hand in hand, carefully so to avoid his claws from cutting your skin, he led you to the end of the table and his usual seat. Windows overlooking the pond outside shined with a pink sunset glittering brilliantly against the half-melted snow across the ground as the inside glowed with candlelight. The room was warm with the heat of the feast, sweets and spices swirled in the air with steam lifting to the ceiling, the others stood in wait as you crossed to the end of the table. The spread of food, meats and piles upon piles of vegetables, bread of all different kinds Siebren himself baked days in advance, peppers, pasta, potatoes, it felt as if it was a feast of dreams with a bit of everything. 

He was smiling, Reaper was genuinely, honestly smiling as he waited for you to take your seat. 

"You two are an incredible sight." Siebren hurriedly spoke as he took his seat to the other side of you. Reaper gently pushed in your seat, moving to his own as you turned to look at Siebren and surprised yourself to find a solid silver mask covering the entirety of his face. "Breathtaking." 

"And look at you, so regal in your military outfit! The mask is a bit unnerving though, I'll miss seeing your face all night." You scrunched your nose at him with a laugh and he tossed aside a cape that hung over one of his shoulders. 

"Ah, don't you worry-" He lifted his hands to it, bringing it over the top of his head so he could lift a forkful to his lips. "The mask never stays on for long when there is such delightful food and drink to be had all night." 

Closest to Reaper you noticed a familiar bowl of a drink you'd been hoping not to see ever again, but at his insistence, everyone dipped small goblets and raised them into the air for a toast to the evening. Reaper stood as everyone else sat with their cups in the air, if he was overwhelmed or still reeling from once more dawning his title it didn't show. There were little changes, the way he stood just a little straighter, the confidence in his voice you'd not heard since he picked up and threw you in a cell, maybe it was even the way his monstrous eyes relaxed, whatever it was about him had warmth stirring around in your chest. 

"For seven years we have been cursed and locked away, told we were nothing and left to rot in our own dreary tombs. For far too long I allowed myself to wallow in this, to fall deeper and deeper into a belief that we were doomed to these awful spells." He scanned quietly for a moment, looking on to his small family. "I am not, generally, one for getting emotional unless it is to well... I have been known to lose my temper, but I wanted to toast to your patience and to your love as I lost my humanity. This castle was so dark, for so long and it feels like it was an accident that a burst of light stumbled through our doors one night." 

You bit at the inside of your cheeks as he looked to you and smiled, Siebren placed a comforting hand on your arm. 

"Unfortunately for far too long I was blinded by my own rage." Reaper continued. "Unable to see that there were people who cared for me walking these same halls. Thank you, truly from my heart for never giving up on me. Bonded together we are far stronger than any witch who may wish to rip us apart. We refuse to succumb to the pity of her curses and tonight we will see to it that we throw a ball that even the kingdom will hear. This evening we will dine, drinks and desserts will be in the ballroom as we will dance the night away under the hard work all of us have put in. Enjoy yourselves. Allow yourselves to be carefree, this is not a luxury that will be afforded often." 

"To the return of a mighty king." Akande stood and clinked a glass against Reaper's. 

"To unwavering hope." Across the table Amélie stood as well. 

"To an uninvited guest who became family." Siebren rested his hand at your shoulder as he raised to his feet. 

"To persevering." Maximilien nodded while Olivia wrapped her arm at his waist to bring him up with her.

"To old times that have made us stronger than our enemies realize." She said with a smirk. 

Left as the only one sitting, completely unprepared, you pushed yourself up and found your chest was welling with happiness. 

"To undeserved hospitality." You toasted. Forcing yourself not to grimace at the taste, you raised your glass and motioned toward him. "To king Gabriel Reyes." 

"To a night we won't forget." He returned with a raised chalice and a smile towards you. 

Everyone seemed to hold back their grimaces as they sipped on Reaper's deadly concoction of a drink, but smiles broke out behind gold chalices as everyone one more fell back to the cushions of their seats and began to fill their plates with a much deserved meal. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> dlfaj;djfdkjsf im so sorry that i write way too much, i promise the actual ball scene is next chapter! ( ✧≖ ͜ʖ≖)


	19. Both A Little Scared, Neither One Prepared

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Get ready >:3c it's a long one!

**Serenade for Strings Op 48, II Waltz. Tchaikovsky**

Violins were the first thing you heard as you held to Reaper's arm and wandered through the west wing halls towards the ballroom. A soft song echoed off the stone walls enticing you to the warm light pouring from open doors. already you could see traces of the magic Siebren and Olivia used to decorate, the gold detailing on the wall shimmered against candlelight all in its own tiny galaxies, through the air leading up to the ceiling Siebren had created an illusion of the night skies above with bright nebulas tracing across through the stars. Already you were gasping at the beauty of it all, your hand gripping at Reaper's arm and watching his flustered smile as he too saw it for the first time.

Then you heard voices, Akande laughing and the tapping of heels across a marble floor. After a massive dinner, the others started leaving one by one off to begin the festivities of the night. Reaper and you were the last to leave the dining room, happy to take your time together enjoying each other's company while there was still that sense of awkwardness between you. Although his kiss still lingered on your lips, it was the little things that continued to make your heart jump. 

The brushing of fingers when you reached for your chalice, legs resting against one another beneath the table, catching his eyes watching you through the corners as you giggled at one of Olivia's jokes- all the while questioning if it was love or simply infatuation. Even in the hall walking side by side, you found yourself looking up to his grin and feeling your stomach jump with joy. 

Your skirt swung at your feet as you finally came to a stop in the massive doorway looking into the ballroom. With a large smile, you brought your hand to your mouth holding back a gasp overwhelmed by the sheer transformation the room had undertaken. 

The marble floors shined with a fresh coat of wax, repaired by your hands with gold in massive cracks which once blemished the ground. Walls were lined with tables in silk cloth that fluttered as people passed by, set out with cakes and pastries and drinks, far too many for you to choose from. In front of the windows, a small orchestra of enchanted instruments played a tune that had Olivia and Siebren dancing in circles. The magic of the night sky continued into the ballroom, emptiness erased the ceiling replacing it with a bright galaxy and stars hanging further and further down that would tinkle as they moved in a slow rotation around the room. Curtains once left torn and weathered had been repaired by Reaper's handiwork and hung around the glass tied back by massive gold clasps.

For a few breathtaking moments, you were standing there without anyone noticing either of you had arrived. Olivia was the first to catch you after doing a double-take during a particularly fast spin, she beamed out a grin and called out your name before running from Siebren's arms towards you. She'd curled her hair in a mess of ringlets which had a fun juxtaposition to the other half left newly shaved, the sleeves of her dress fell off the sides of her shoulders giving particular attention to the tiara at her head and the chain that fell down to her hand with the mess of rings, she was gripping at the flowing skirt of it as she ran to make sure she wouldn't trip over. In a strange mix of classic beauty and the purple veins of her curse, there was something glowing about her. 

"You're finally here, come on-!" She grabbed your hand and stole you away from Reaper.

"Where are you taking me?" You chuckled out as she pulled you towards Amélie who was greeting you from the other side of the room. 

"Now that you're here, we have one final thing to do." She shooed aside the others from the dance floor and the room fell to a hush as everyone seemed to fall back to the edges of the dancefloor. 

Olivia cracked her knuckles and closed her eyes for an intense moment of focus before magic trailed from her palms into the air. Before you, figures began to form from glittering mist. Figures of men in fitted suits, women in dresses and dripping in jewels, ghosts that looked on and began to take the hands of others to take to the floor as music swelled. Reaper's expression changed from starry-eyed surprise to soft astonishment, instantly you knew he was seeing faces of people he knew, faces of his citizens long since gone. Akande stood next to him, a hand on his king's shoulder as they quietly spoke and Reaper slowly smiled. 

"There, now it will feel a little less lonely in here." She triumphantly let out a large breath. "Man, I need a drink. Don't wander too far, Amélie and I are going to teach you a traditional Overland Kingdom dance." 

"O-oh okay!" You spoke over your shoulder as you turned to watch spellbinding ghosts dancing together.

You were speechless, humbled by all the effort everyone else had put into it. If you weren't so happy you might have cried, they really had pulled out all the stops to show you their power and put on a night that would be remembered. 

Sipping a drink Olivia brought you, your eyes caught Reaper as he unclasped his cape and hung it over the back of plush chairs in the far corner of the room. Always one for dramatics, beneath his cape was a matching jacket perfectly fitted with large gold embroidered lapels folded over his chest. He wore his medals, all pinned across his front with aiguillettes hanging across him. He was adjusting his jacket straightening it out nervously as he tried to not rip it with the claws of his taloned gloves. Through the dancers, he lifted his eyes and found you smiling at him. 

"Well, what do you think?" Siebren appeared at your side, distracting you from the blush rising at Reaper's cheeks. 

"It's incredible." You held your drink close to you, pretending like you couldn't feel Reaper's eyes watching you as you spoke with Siebren. "I feel like I'm in another world, I've never seen magic do anything like this before!"

"I'm glad you enjoy it." He chuckled and rested an arm over your shoulders, bringing you into a loose hug at his side. "We tried very hard to make it the perfect setting for _romance_." 

"Siebren!" Olivia snarled as she hit his arm. "Couldn't you try to even be a _little_ coy about it?" 

"You expect me to pretend we didn't go to great lengths to make sure our dear Reaper feels at home so his feelings can blossom-" 

"I'm so sorry about him." Olivia pushed him away letting the billowing mass of her dress put room between you and Siebren. "We didn't do all this just to make Reaper feel some warm fuzzies, we did it so we could have a fun night and thank you both for the work you did." 

"Well, I appreciate it either way." You chuckled into your drink.

Reaper had wandered to the dessert tables, he was chewing at the corner of his lip as he thoughtfully looked over the array of colorful pastries and puddings. He'd never really been one for desserts, he usually skipped out on them during the rare occasions desserts would be served on weekends, but from you to the dessert table was one of the few clear paths that he could glance at you without dancers getting in the way. 

You pretended not to catch him looking as you turned to Olivia to have a conversation about some of the ghostly dancers gliding across the floor. She'd conjured up a mix of people she'd seen over the years who would gather on the king's dancefloor, peasants from the edges of the village, performers from a long since burned down opera house, bakers and bartenders from all walks of life who once visited for one event or another. In a way it was almost sad to see the faces of people who could never grace the floors once again, but the gesture for Olivia to even go to the lengths of creating such a moving illusion made your chest burst with warmth. 

Much to your amusement, Reaper continued his facade of attempting to stay by the dessert table as an excuse to stay within sight and in his hands he gently cradled a small plate with a slice of dark chocolate ganache cake (a dessert Amélie insisted you had to try a bite of weeks ago when she happened upon the recipe after searching through the piled library books). What made you giggle to yourself and hide your smile behind your drink was the way he was trying to pinch a small dessert fork between the ends of his claws and hold it tight enough to scoop enough to the ends. 

"I should just ask him to dance. Look how nervous he is." You chuckled and turned to Olivia. She turned to watch Reaper as well, laughing just a little loud before she pressed her hand to her lips when he turned suddenly with a cross look. 

"Nah, let him suffer for a bit." She gave you a mischievous grin.

After a drink, Olivia pulled you and Amélie to the dancefloor. Phantoms cleared the floor and the three of you were left as the center of attention as music shifted into a bright tune. You stood in a tight circle, turned to one while another stayed behind you, hands in the center as Olivia whispered frantic instructions on how to perform the dance. You laughed as you held the edges of your dress and tried your best to stay in step with the other two, all the while being hyper-aware of Reaper's eyes fixated on you. The dance itself was simple enough but the way he was watching you was heightening your nerves. 

The end of the song came all too soon and left you winded as you fell to chairs against the walls and giggled with Olivia and Amélie about how silly you must have looked. 

Next up, Siebren, Akande and Reaper took their turn in traditional dance as Maximilien sat out and rubbed at his sore wrists. It seemed just about all of them were out of practice by the way the fumbled and stepped over each other, particularly so when Reaper would catch you watching and stumble forward only to crash into one of the other men. He was trying so hard to be suave, trying to keep his usually demure demeanor on point but clearly seemed to be unsure of himself. 

"Tsk, look at him out there bumbling around. Gérard would be so disappointed in him." Amélie pouted at your side. "We put in so much time teaching him to dance and he forgets all of it." 

"It's kind of charming." You smiled, unable to stop yourself. "In a weird way." 

"Their song is about to end, stay here-" Olivia pushed herself from her seat, as violins and harp music began to die down she made a straight line for the king and yanked on his arm bringing his ear down to her level. 

Back and forth they seemed to have some kind of argument, it caught the attention of Siebren who let the music fall to silence until a flurry of gestures towards you became Olivia actively pulling Reaper in your direction. He straightened out his jacket, pulled at the ends and adjusted his medals of honor to be perfectly in place as he made his way to you. 

Sit or stand? Keep your hands at your side or hold them in front of you? All the etiquette they'd gone over with you for days was blanking and your heart jumped into a thousand beats per second as you ran on pure instinct. With weak knees, you stood and pressed a fist into your stomach as came to stop just in front of you.

His forehead was beading with sweat. With the music paused, waiting for him to ask you to the floor, you could almost swear you heard his heartbeat. 

"May I ask you to dance?" He held out his gloved hand, those metal claws of his shimmering against the stars above. Surrounded by magic and nebulas, that onyx crown sitting atop his head, it was simply a request to dance but it felt like so much more. 

"Only if I can make a small request." You bit at your smile as you watched him swallow his shock at your strange response. 

"Of course, anything." 

"Take those blades off." 

"Hm." He looked down at his hands, twisting them over and curling his fingers in thought. "They're attached to the gloves, I'm sure you don't want my calloused hands holding yours while we dance-"

"I'll take them off myself if I have to." You threatened with a grin. 

"There's no need to do that." He pursed his lips and began to unbutton his sleeves to he could push off the straps of his gloves. You waited patiently, playing with the cascading lace sleeves of your jacket watching his every move. He walked away momentarily, leaving his gloves by his cape, once again sheading away a layer of himself to show you he truly was the man you saw behind the mask. With his gloves finally off, he motioned with both hands in front of him, waiting for you to take them with his palms to the air. "Better?"

"Very much so. Thank you." Your hands fell in his and he began to take you off to the dancefloor. 

Surrounded by the memories of dancers past, with Siebren and Amélie on one end of the room, Akande and Olivia on the other, Reaper led you to the center where he carefully moved your arms to be exactly in place. Although you were sure he would deny it, as you looked to Reaper's hand in yours it appeared as if he'd actually tried to make them presentable despite thinking he was going to hide them away beneath gloves all evening. Heat rose to your cheeks, questioning if he'd trimmed his usually claw-like nails for himself or if he had _other_ intentions. His palms weren't anywhere near as rough as he seemed to think they would be, you thought you could even smell hints of a lotion Olivia once offered you. 

"One should rest on my shoulder." He placed your left hand at the curve of his shoulder and clasped his other hand with your right, lifting it into the air. "Mine will hold you here."

He spoke almost as if he was unsure if you'd push him away or not.

While he held your right hand, his other curled beneath your arm to rest at your waist. So close together you could feel the heat from his breath, it reminded of the way he so desperately kissed you in the dark of the sitting room and had you hoping no one noticed the pink rising to your face. You chuckled at his unsure handling of you, it was strange to see him so nervous and you were trying your very best to also remain calm. 

"You don't need to walk me through it. They did teach me the basics." You chuckled out, hoping to ease his troubled heart. 

"I know, I know-" He hurriedly spoke and shook his head as he looked to Siebren and Amélie who were eyeing you and Reaper down. "I'm more so doing this for myself. It has been quite some time since I've danced with anyone properly." 

"I bet all the people in the kingdom wanted a dance with you." One step back, the bottom of your shoe slid to the right. 

"Oh, I was happy to oblige anyone who did." He finally let out a smile. Step to the side, turn. "Although I've never had a partner quite as captivating as you." 

Twist, avoid stepping on his toes, a step forward. The way he looked at you, the way all his eyes stared down at you so gently, all the air in your body left you and it was a miracle you were still standing considering how light you felt. Your heart told you to kiss him, to skip the much needed conversation you knew you need to have, to carelessly throw away the fear of the others seeing you press your lips to his and give them the false hope that a curse would be lifted. He squeezed your hand, the arm at your waist wrapped around to help lift you in a small leap during the song and he did it with such ease that you were sure he didn't have eyes on him he would have just picked you up and threw you over his shoulder to take you up to the top of the west wing if he really wanted to. 

One song, then another, then just a few more. You turned and danced in his arms all the while trying to hold back the desire to wrap your arms at his shoulders and ask to find a quiet part of the castle. Dance after dance you lost track of time until a soft voice interjected over your shoulder. 

"Forgive me, my king, I must cut in. I was promised a dance and I fear if I don't step in now, I may never get my chance." Maximilien slipped his hand between yours and Reaper's, effortlessly taking you away from Reaper. 

"That's quite all right, I suppose by now Amélie has had enough of my form and is dying to correct me." Far too graceful, he left you to Maximilien's care. 

Maximilien's outfit for the ball was far less practical than the others, unlike the other men who were dressed to military or royal best, he looked as if he was ready to head out for an evening of shows and songs with his long-tailed coat and his frilly shirt. Although, his head now sported a heavy gold crown lined with emeralds all around that made his sad eyes glitter in the stars of the room. His hold with you was so much stiffer, likely because he could barely curl his own fingers let alone dance without his joints creaking. 

"How are you enjoying the night?" You asked as you took the lead so he wouldn't need to exert any extra energy. 

"It's turned out to be a surprisingly good evening." He swayed with you and gave you a gentle smile before his eyes glanced to Reaper bowing to Amélie as an offer to dance. "You two seem to be getting along as handsomely as ever. Do you still hold your reservations in doubts of his feelings?"

"To some degree, I suppose I do." You mused and turned in his arms, the edges of the dress swinging around your ankles. "I... I don't want to disappoint anyone, I don't think I've quite figured out my own feelings." 

"I do hope you understand, whether it is love or something far more simple, we all care for you as one of our own. You have our blessing regardless." 

You could feel him shaking, he must have still been in pain as his hand held yours tighter. With a sigh, you paused and steadied him before pushing yourself to your toes and hugging yourself close to his chest, completely ignoring the music and dancing around you. There were questions not even your own heart could answer in that moment, but you clung to the notion that no matter how you felt you would not be treated any differently. With an unsure look in your direction, you caught Reaper watching you hug Maximilien close.

"Let's finish out the song then have a drink, I think we could use a break." You nudged him gently.

He looked thankfully relieved to hear that. Despite the usual fancy footwork that would accompany that particular song, you took it easy and let him move only as much as he could manage. At the end of the song, you sat with him in the plush chairs lining the room sipping at a drink that far better than the one Reaper made for toasting at dinner. He entertained you with the balls he'd attended, of the people he'd once seen dancing across these floors and loyalty that used to clink glasses between kingdoms. After not too long you found Siebren at your other side, regaling in the stories of many years ago.

The night grew older and your nerves continued to buzz. Time began to blur between drinks and laughter, hands across your body as you danced and the flinging of the skirt of your dress. Dancing was almost like a game to them, showing off and filled with singing or riddles, it was the type of fun you wished could have lasted forever but after being winded far too many times you would always find yourself back in the seats catching a break and giving yourself a chance to cool down. 

"Getting a little late for you, old man?" You asked when Reaper dropped with a seat to a seat at your side stretching with a big yawn, long after you were left alone to watch the others dancing. 

"Despite the new grays in my hair every day, I am not _old_." He laughed let his hands fall to his lap. "You've been off to the side for a while, too tired to dance?" 

"Just enjoying the company." You returned a smile and leaned against his arm, his body tensed as you rested. 

He shifted and your heart fluttered to your throat, choking you on timid words as his hand slid from his lap to your leg and all at once his large palm was resting on the height of your thigh. Immediately it felt as if you'd drank all of Siebren's green tea and you were wide awake, in your core you could feel something stirring that you'd rather be left to the gutters of your mind. He must have realized your legs jumped as his fingers curled over the fabric of your dress, although your thigh was beneath layers that didn't stop the way he made your heart race. 

Those damn pearls gave away your every breath, they clattered together as your chest would rise and fall, but you were particularly aware of it after he'd left you exhilarated from even the simplest of touches.

"I believe Akande may have helped Maximilien back to his room for the evening." Reaper said, pretending not to notice your lips hanging open as you tried to steady yourself. "And from the looks of it, Olivia may just about be on her final dances." 

Across the floor, between dancing figures, Olivia seemed to be clinging to Siebren who'd lifted into the air lost in his own music, she looked utterly bored and dark circles were beginning to form beneath her eyes. 

"Are you still terrified of me?" You asked, unable to turn and face him. You could feel all his eyes fixate on you, snapping to stare at your sudden question.

"I-" He squeezed at your thigh lightly sending a rush of heat through your veins. His voice turned to the dancing crowd in front of you as well, wavering and breathy. "I think I'm terrified of what it would mean to lose you, now. I am afraid that if I am true to my feelings towards you, I will scare you away for good." 

"I don't know what to feel." You breathed out, confused and utterly happy. 

"About me?" 

"About... any of this." You curled your hand around his in your lap, squeezing him tightly. "I know that when I'm with you I'm happy. I feel so happy, so safe. The people here are like family to me, but when I think of what the future may hold there's just this- this tightness in my chest, it's like I'm petrified because how can I think of-" 

"Slow down." He chuckled and pulled away his hand, moving to bring it over your shoulders and pull you close to him. "The night isn't completely over yet, take a breath. We have many things to talk about, but we should enjoy these final moments before we have this talk." 

He wasn't ready to hear that your feelings were conflicted and unsure, you weren't ready to hear what you suspected by the way he would look at you from across the room. Instead, you sat there quietly, tucked beneath his arm, your hand reached up to intertwine fingers with his watching as the night faded further and further into a sleepy state.

It appeared at some point, Amélie got tired of waiting for Olivia to be returned to her feet and laid across a set of the chairs taking a nap with one arm thrown over her eyes, the other holding a half full glass of wine dangerously close to slipping from her fingers. Olivia must have also dozed off while still dancing in Siebren's arms, slowly the illusions of dancers were fading away, and it was about the time that Siebren was gathering both women on either shoulder that Reaper pulled you back to the dance floor for one final song. 

Even Siebren's magic was beginning to tire out. Many of the enchanted instruments rested on the ground no longer playing a tune, leaving only strings softly trilling away a sleepy melody. Brought to the center of the ballroom, hugged close together in no particular traditional dance, you were simply swaying in his arms, stars glittering around you as your head rested on his chest listening to his calmed heartbeat. 

"So, how did you like your first official ball?" He asked quietly as he dropped his chin to lay on the top of your head.

"It was beyond any dreams I could have." You smiled as you nuzzled against him. "Thank you." 

"No, thank you." His lips pecked at your hair only for his chin to return resting. "We would have never had it if you hadn't been wandering around where I told you not to go." 

"Give yourself some credit, really it would have never happened if you hadn't locked me away in your dungeon like some common criminal." 

"Lord, please don't remind me I did that." He groaned and smiled against the top of your head. "I'm so happy you gave me the many chances you did to show you I am not simply the monster I believed myself to be." 

"Reaper?" You lifted your chin, eyes meeting his and softening. "I think it's time we find somewhere quiet." 

"May I make one request of you before we do?" The muscles of his neck strained as he swallowed and slid his hands to cup your cheeks. You nodded and in response he smiled, then placed a small kiss to your forehead. "Earlier, at dinner, you called me by my name. My true name. I'd very much like to hear you continue calling me that." 

"King Reyes?" You almost sobbed out. 

"Just Gabriel."

* * *

**Symphony No. 2 Op. 27 III. Adagio. Rachmaninov**

In one of his arms, Gabriel carried his cape and his gloves, the other you clung to as you gathered your skirt in your hands and climbed the tower of the west wing leaving behind the nebulous sky and glittering stars of the ball. Your face was so warm, either from the dancing, the drinking or maybe simply by being around him, but the whole way up you were trying to make small talk about how another storm seemed to be rolling in by the sound of the wind whipping again the castle walls and how it was growing colder with every floor you passed. 

"I'll set a fire, you can get comfortable then we can sit down and-" He looked over his shoulder, checking on you as he bit at his lip. "And talk." 

"Right-" You gasped as you reached the top of the stairs and practically tripped into him when he turned to catch you in his arms. 

He looked down at you with such longing, painfully obvious longing and it was all too soon when you'd realized your chest was pressed against his. Oh, you couldn't even breathe, you felt ridiculous there staring at his lips until he frantically cleared his throat and held out his arm to make sure you had something steady to hold on to as you regained your footing. Was the walk to his room always that long? You felt like you were going insane, your chest was so heavy and you knew it definitely wasn't because of the pearls, those eyes of his all over his body were making you so nervous they looked like they wanted to absolutely consume you. 

He left you at his doorway as he lit candles to give you light.

He'd cleaned, not just put away the clothes and fabric that were normally strewn about, but he'd swept, he'd dusted, he'd made his handsomely luxurious bed to the standards of a king with heavy draping all around. Broken mirrors had been replaced, floorboards once torn off their nails now hammered back into place, his weapons, jewelry on display looking polished and presentable. 

It all made sense now why you'd seen his light on at all hours of the night as he was bumbling around in his room before the balls. He threw his cape and gloves to his dresser, leaving them to rest on top as he began to undo his heavy jacket and start piling wood in his fireplace.

"Please, make yourself comfortable wherever you like." He offered and nervously checked through drawers of an extravagant nightstand. Matches shook in his hand, with each one he struck he would miss and have to start fresh and he would chuckle as the color of his cheeks deepened. 

"Thank you again for the beautiful dress." You tried to put him at ease as you moved to rest against one of his chairs set off next to the fireplace. Something in you absolutely possessed you to reach for the fastenings on the lace jacket at your waist. While he was busy undoing his own, you were quietly pulling yours off to reveal the simple top beneath tied with only a ribbon at the front of your chest to keep it tight around you. "I don't think I got the chance to tell you how handsome you looked as well." 

"There's no need to-" He looked up as soon as he placed his jacket back in his dresser, dressed down to a far more comfortable flowing shirt and turned to face you. 

"Would you help me get this off?" You asked as you turned your shoulders to him and reached for the massive clasp on the back of your necklace. Without the jacket, you could feel the decorative epaulets sliding over the skin of your shoulders and it was sending shivers down your spine. He seemed hesitant, completely unsure before he slowly stepped towards you. "You did say to get comfortable, did you not?" 

"I did." He was so close, that towering body of his directly behind you. 

Instead of going straight for the necklace, his arms wrapped at your waist and pulled you close into a warm hug with your back against his chest.

"What should we talk about first?" His cheek rested against your head, his voice dangerously low. "The curse? You possibly considering making this your home? Things we've both felt but have yet to put words to?" 

"Gabriel-" You couldn't take it anymore, couldn't take this heat between your legs or way he was making you feel like you were going to faint if he continued touching you. "That kiss, we should talk about our kiss-" 

His big hands slid to your hips, over your sides dragging the fabric of your skirt up exposing your ankles to the cold air of his room. You couldn't breathe, couldn't do anything other than blush at the feeling of him touching you so sensually. As his hands reached your waist, fingers slipped beneath the strings of pearls and pushed over your chest taking your breasts into his palms. You were absolutely on fire, how he knew exactly what you needed eluded you. He made you sigh only briefly before fingertips began to undo the ribbon tying together the front of your top, your mind wandered to the dirtiest places- you wondered if he'd pictured himself undoing your clothes as he sewed them together, your face flushed at the thought of him having more intimate knowledge of how to get you out of your clothes than you did. 

"Is this alright?" He whispered, his voice heated in a way you'd not heard from him before.

"Yes. Yes-" You whined as you rolled your head back against him and fluttered your eyes closed. "About that kiss-"

"Oh yes, that kiss we shared." He chuckled as he teased you with a kiss to your temple. 

With the ribbon of the top loose, he fumbled with the tiny hooks connecting it to the skirt of the dress. When it proved to not be an easy task his movement became rougher and he wrapped his hands at your waist bringing you closer with a throaty growl before pulling away the top leaving exposed beneath strings of pearls and the skirt of the dress resting on the width of your hips. Those hands of his, large hands that grabbed you and played with your chest beneath the pearls grasped at you until you could feel your nipples pinching between his fingers and something hard pressed to your back. 

"That kiss?" He asked coyly. 

"That kiss-" You sighed once more and opened your heavy lidded eyes, looking up to him from a strained angle, soft cries falling from your lips. "I want you to keep kissing me, forever, and ever, ever, and even longer after that." 

Finally his lips pressed to yours once more. Every feeling you'd pushed down, the doubts you'd suppressed about him were erased as he smothered you and moved one hand pull your chin toward him so he could keep kissing you. You turned in his arms, twisted around so you were facing him and could wrap your arms around his shoulders. You were dominated by passion, fully allowing your heart to take over as he grabbed you and held you to him even if that meant lifting you off your feet so he could kiss you deeper. 

Gabriel- your mind was racing, it was so freeing to call him that- turned with you in his arms, he stumbled back until he fell to the edge of his bed and the kiss broke as he bounced into a seat with you standing in front of him red faced and unable to stop the swell in your chest that told you he was everything your heart desired. It seemed impossible to find someone that made you feel the way it felt to stand out on the balcony during a summer day and feel the sun kissing your skin, he made you feel like the smell of freshly baked bread, he had your heart nestled between his hands for safekeeping. To him you were lovely, you were a queen of your own right, you were strong even when you were scared, he allowed you to be that and that made you feel like you were _loved_. 

Running his hand on the outline of your leg as he gathered the fabric of your skirt, he guided you to climb partially onto the bed. You were smiling and nervously holding back whines as he moved one leg to rest against his, your knee to the mattress on the outside of his thigh as you stood with your other off the edge. The hand that had been pushing up fabric now snuck beneath the skirt, fingers trailing up your thigh and sending shivers as he grabbed you every few inches or so going up from your knee to your hip. That look in his eyes said he'd waited far too long, that his patience was finally being rewarded. 

"I don't want you thinking I'm avoiding our real conversation." He breathed out as his thumb slid over the front of your panties and forced you to buckle over and brace yourself with palms to his shoulders. "I know how I feel about you, but I can't think clearly enough to tell you when all I think about is-"

"Me too." You panted and threw your head back, he didn't need to explain himself to you when you felt very much the same way.

With your nails digging into his shoulders, you bucked your hips against his hand. His touch was so gentle, a simple tease of his thumb between your legs against your covered folds, even the flowing ends of his sleeves were tickling at your inner thigh with his movements. He'd barely touched you and already you were shaking. As he tested you, those exploring fingers of his curling harder against your panties, you began pulling at his shirt and kissing him even if it was sloppy. Between breaths, breaks of your lips from his as you would pull his shirt over his head or gasp for air he would plead your name and push a testing finger at your entrance stopped from going any deeper by the fabric of your panties. 

Shirtless and vying to have every inch of you, his hand left your legs and within moments you were hoisted over and thrown to the center of his bed. He grinned at the gasp that left you and stared down at the way those pearls laid in all different directions across your chest. He was rough with his hands as he reached beneath your hips, lifting them as he untied the ribbon at the back of your skirt and pulled it, along with the tulle underskirt away from your body then flung it across his room. He hunched over you to kiss you deeply once more, leaving only to trail down over your chest, over your side and leaving kisses down your legs until he slid to his knees and began to undo his own pants with you pressing the heel of your dancing boots to his chest right against the scar King Morrison left him with. 

Hands busy at the front of his pants he smirked and moved your ankle to rest over his shoulder. There had to have been something sick within you, as he turned and began to undo your laces with his razor sharp teeth and it sent a wave of heat across your skin. In a hurry, after he loosened his pants, he hopped off the bed to kick off his shoes as well leaving him fully nude apart from the crown topping his head. He turned back and pull off the last of your clothes and slowly lifted his crown, setting it to his side table. 

You laid across the center of his bed, surrounded by a king's silks and linens, propped up on your elbows staring at a body covered head to toe in dreadful scars and eyes engrossed with the sight of you. 

"Armies would have fallen at your feet if you had been my queen from the beginning." His voice was dripping with lust, but he couldn't help complimenting you. 

"I thought I asked you to never stop kissing me." You smiled back. 

You giggled as the bed dipped beneath his weight and he climbed over you, holding your legs open so he could place himself between your thighs. With his body sliding over yours, there was a small opportunity to watch him. He'd wrapped your legs at his hips, his hands traced your sides until he was moving over your arms and lifting them to rest over your head. The look in his eyes, the way he moved so carefully, the slight jump in his chest when he noticed you studying him, it told you more than any words ever could. With a sweet smile, you lifted your head to kiss the scars of his cheek once more, reminding him no matter what he thought he was you saw him as only the great man you had before you. 

There was a taste of happy tears as he moved to take your lips with his again. A kiss deep, but slow, sensual as he slid his hands over your arms until his hands were in yours and he with intertwined fingers he pinned your hands at either side of your head. 

Gabriel got great amusement from teasing you. With your hands occupied and your lips with better things to do, he was heavy and aching between your legs. He slid his tip between your folds, gliding up, slowly, rocking back and forth purposefully not allowing you to angle yourself for him to enter, only enough for him to ride against your sensitive nub with every torturous motion. He smiled with every single one of your whining moans, kissed you harder when you would try to circle your hips, he'd adust himself and buck beneath you when you were sliding against him to the point of trembling. 

"I didn't think you'd be so interested in teasing me like this." You arched your back against him after he'd slid over you so much you could feel just how wet your inner thighs were. 

"I'd keep you here like this forever if it'd meant you would stay." He had this romantically dark look about him that stirred something deep within you, but it hit you with an empty pang of sadness.

"Gabriel-" 

"Don't look so worried all of the sudden." He cooed and released one of your hands, instead reaching between your bodies and feeling at your folds with his fingers. He sighed with a big smiled and dropped his lips to kiss at the corner of your eye. "Flip around for me." 

With limbs knocking into limbs, you were shaking but you followed his orders and twisted to move with your back to him and your chest pressed to his bed. He lifted your legs to they were resting over his, bringing your hips high into the air enough that he could comfortably lean his arm over your ass and continue his mean teasing with his thumb. 

You gasped as he finally gave you something more, a large digit sank into your entrance making you curl your toes and grip into his sheets. A sigh of his name left you as his thumb slowly built up, pumping dangerously slow then finally moving up to a rhythm that had you bouncing back against his hand. Positioned like that you were so exposed to him, there was no way to hide even if you wanted to but you were lost a sea of your own mind. He switched out his thumb for two fingers instead, he twisted them and curled them against your walls and your nerves creating this coil that tightened and pulsed deep within you. 

Even more unfair, as you looked to his legs and his arms, those eyes of his across his skin were fixated on you. Their lust only fueled Gabriel more as he must have felt you staring back with your open gasping lips.

You could feel that coil in you threatening, quickly with the pace of his fingers you knew you would fall over your edge far too quickly after being so wound up for months. Your walls were squeezing around him, pulsing with need and begging for release but you reached back and grabbed his wrist stopping him before you'd allow yourself to go over. He slowed to a pause with his fingers still buried in you and stared down at the way you were breathless and shaking. 

"I need you." With a small whine, you were on the verge of sobs as you pulled at his hand and tried to topple him down onto you. 

"So you'll have me." His voice, although desperate, was soft and he grabbed your hips to flip you over to your back again. 

Was that as close as he could be? You wanted him closer, wanted all of him. There laying on your back, you pulled him to a tight hug almost to a point of him crushing you if it weren't for his elbows digging into the mattress at your sides. You threw your legs at his hips, locking them around his body as he lined himself and softened gasps escaped him as his tip pushed at your entrance. Your hands gripped into his hair, lips kissed at the scars of his face, allowing your body to fully give itself over to his size as he pushed deeper and deeper stretching your walls. 

With a groan, he was fully buried within you. His hands curled beneath your body and gripped at your back as he slowly lifted his hips away only to rock in slowly ensuring you were able to take him. 

Undeclared feelings blossomed as he began his steady rhythm, wordlessly taking your mind into the throughs of a high it had been chasing from the moment you first laid eyes on him. With his hips he declared his devotion, with your lips you kissed faithful promises to his scars. Two people, completely lost in each other yet never more sure of themselves, your fingers clawing at each other's skin and moving as one until bodies could no longer withstand the uncontrollable urge of release. 

He held tightly, waiting for your coil to burst and your body began quivering beneath his just as he found his own end. He held your legs against his hips, keeping you in place, keeping you as intimately as he could, for as long as he could as he spilled over within you, his hips thrusting slower and slower until they came to a stop and a wet spot began to grow on the sheets beneath. 

Before your bodies separated, you stared up at him and held his face, he carefully studied your expression for any signs of regret only to find you smiling and tracing the scars at his cheek. For the moment you were each resigned to happiness, you allowed yourselves to be unbothered by any looming threats or potential questions from curious housemates. It was without discussion that you climbed into bed at his side, you laid with your head to his chest and listened to his heartbeat fall from adrenaline-induced racing to a calm beat that spoke your name with every turn. 

There was no need at that moment to say anything. True confessions of feelings could wait until the morning. 

* * *

**Hymn of the Cherubim. Tchaikovsky**

Gabriel was sleeping, even monstrous eyes at rest peacefully as you stirred awake beneath his sheets. His room was still dark, the air was heavy with the smell of firewood having burned through the night as you slept at his side. What a strange feeling it was to wake and find him with his arm resting beneath your body, an affirmation that you'd fallen asleep in his arms.

Stranger still, there was something very different about the room. 

Little purple lights, floating and falling like specs of dust that seemed to be wandering in from the tower hall. You sat up, reaching for one out of curiosity only for it to burst into nothing but powder as it touched your fingers. It didn't seem _right_. 

You turned back to Gabriel, he was sleeping so soundly, it looked like it was the first time he had since he'd been cursed. 

You would just investigate, simply look around corners to find the source of the strange little lights then report right back to him once you were sure it was something that was actually worth bothering him. So sure that it was nothing, you dressed simply in the overskirt of your dress from the ball and grabbed the first shirt you found off the ground- one of Gabriel's fluttering loose deep necked shirts that you tucked lazily into the waist of the skirt. 

On your tiptoes, you held up the edge of the dress and make your way down his winding stairs where the lights grew denser.

Further and further into the castle the stranger you felt, there was a sense of panic and yet a blanket of calm that overtook you as you began to run through them, heavier and heavier still out of the west wing and into the main hall.

In your heart you knew where the lights were coming from, your heart was racing but you were numb to it.

The dust- no, the pollen, it was sticking to your throat as you ran making you cough and sputter as tears welled at the corners of your eyes.

Your feet knew exactly where they were going but you couldn't bring yourself to process it, you were blinded to the fading of castle walls into black clouds and claws the reached around them to pull you into darkness. 

Your whole world felt as if it had slowed, as if you were watching through the eyes of another as you pushed open the greenhouse doors and thousands of those horrible purple lights poured into the hallway around you. Siebren's herbs were wilting and crumbling, Amélie's vegetables and fruits just earlier that day vibrant and full of life now shriveled and decaying. There was a pit in your stomach, one that brought you to your knees against the tile and dirt.

In the center of the greenhouse was the amorphophallus titanum, the death blossom encased in glass with pollen escaping through the tiniest cracks at the bottom and much to your horror, bright green leaves curling out to reveal sickening purple petals of a flower in bloom. 


	20. Waiting Here, Forevermore

The tile of the greenhouse was cold and rough against your knees. It was a terrible sensation to be on the ground like that, your body feeling like a boulder freefalling into an endless black ocean and yet your head so light it was making you dizzy. That feeling was overwhelming you again, a panic that buzzed beneath your skin and numbed your fingertips, the black clouds and their claws that reached out trying to drag you into unconsciousness making your veins race with fear.

 **"I warned you to leave Overland."** The witch's voice was so loud in your skull, booming with bitter anger. Even though you knew she wasn't physically in the room with you, the true force of her magic being able to penetrate the forces that protected the castle left you shaking and you buckled over catching your palms to the ground. Your mind could feel her, like a ghost circling your body and watching you with disdain. When she spoke next her voice softened, from a harsh threat to more of a serpent's bite. "You've forced my hand by staying in that fortress." 

"What do you want with me?" You gasped out, your words using almost all the air in your lungs. 

"I have tried to be merciful, _patient_." That snarl in her voice held such contempt. Your muscles were aching, pained with her magic forcing you to lose your strength. "Do you think I'm a fool? That I wouldn't know how Gabriel thinks and what he'll do to protect his own? Tell them they can use all the magic in their feeble little bodies to protect that pile of stones, I have no interest in sieging an attack. If it were up to that idiot we would have beat down the gates days ago, but I am trying to resolve this _peacefully_." 

Whatever she was doing to you, it didn't feel peaceful. Your hands were griding into dirt, nails clawing at the tile as purple pollen floated all around you in empty darkness. All your body could do was collapse as it washed between senselessness and shooting pain. Somewhere echoing through the halls you could hear your name being called and heavy footsteps but you were too weak to call out. 

"You poor thing." She hissed, you could feel her long horrible nails curling into your hair and forcing you to lift your head. It felt as if the room was spinning, you couldn't focus your eyes. "Why, I almost feel sorry for you. So resilient, but you do not see that resisting my spell is exactly what will get you killed. Blinded by rose tinted glasses, I will offer you one final chance to leave. Come to me, in the village. Come of your own volition, _alone,_ and will lift your curse so long as you agree to leave Overland." 

The presence of her hand slipped away, you were left lying against the tile trembling as you stared up to a blossoming flower with dry sobs catching in your chest. You needed strength, you needed to find it in you to keep fighting and stay awake. 

"Wait-" You cried. It hurt to speak, every word, every syllable like a blade running down your throat. "Moira, your name is Moira, right?" 

"Make your point." 

"Why curse me? If- if it was Jesse who can not control himself, why place a spell on me?" You fell to your elbows, your body giving out as you pushed yourself to lay on your back and stare up into the cold black clouds surrounding you. 

"The day you met Jesse McCree, he claims he fell madly in love with you. He does that, every so often, finds someone he insists is the love of his life and he will stop at nothing until they are his although he is charming and knows how to bide his time, he insisted that I put you under a spell to fall in with him. You are the first to cause quite this much of a stir, he will not rest until he has you and I have no intentions of allowing you to come between me and my plans for him." Unseen clawed fingers grabbed you at your chin, holding you in place. Although you couldn't see her, you could feel her eyes watching you. At her touch was a moment of ease, your body suddenly hit with a calm that felt like you would melt to the floor. "Men are brazen simpletons. I have told him time and time again that no spell, no curse no matter how powerful can force people to love each other, yet even still he insisted. Spells can have unintended consequences when you force them and it appears my dear your consequence is death following. Accept my olive branch and come to me, allow me to free you from this before it grows stronger, agree to leave Overland and you can be at peace again." 

"But-" Tears were falling down the sides of the face, silently, warm against your skin. "Gabriel." 

_"Leave him in the past where he belongs."_ She was fading, her voice, her touch, her magic, you could feel her becoming weaker as your name bounced off the walls in panicked screams. "I will give you until sunset. I do not want it to come to this, but should you refuse, I will curse the entire village of innocents to an eternal sleep until you come to me." 

Your lashes felt unimaginably heavy, all your limbs limp and numb as with a shriek of horror you felt yourself being scooped from the floor. 

"Amélie, go! Go get Reaper, now!" Siebren's voice was booming above you, but your body refused to open its eyes as he lifted you into his arms. 

"The plants, the flower! No, no, our food! Siebren they're dead, everything is dead-!" 

"There are more pressing matters! Get Reaper, _now!"_

* * *

There were larks chirping at the windowsill of the infirmary when you woke with a start. Bright sunlight poured into the room through iron cast cracked windows, the air chilly as a light wind creaked the hinges. 

You were alone. 

Alone with the cold, alone with your thoughts, alone to wonder why you ever had to smile at Jesse McCree. 

You had hours, she gave you the countdown knowing the pressure it would put on you would be insurmountable. What kind of person would you be if you knowingly allowed her to ruin the lives of hundreds, how heavy would your heart weigh you down if you stayed locked behind castle walls and allowed a too powerful witch to cause chaos through the kingdom? 

Head pounding and chest tight, you pushed yourself up taking a moment to look around the room you could hear a quiet conversation just outside the closed doors. Your name was being thrown around between whispers, some with tones of worry others clearly upset and attempting to hold their emotions in. It was right as you swung your legs over the side of the infirmary bed that the door handle twisted and Gabriel appeared paused as he caught you just about to stand. 

"Hi." You said in a small voice, guilt swallowed your stomach as faces in the hall turned away refusing to look at you. 

"It's nice to see you up." He looked over his shoulder before gently closing the door behind him and moving across the room to sit at your side. He looked exhausted, despite when you left him having fallen asleep so peacefully, even those monstrous eyes of his were aimed to the floor. The old mattress beneath you squeaked, he reached for your hand and held it loosely as you left fingers intertwined in your lap. "What the hell happened?"

"I'm so sorry. We did all this for nothing." You breathed out, how was it possible for your chest to feel so empty? "She never had a plan to attack us to take me from you. She thought I would leave on my own." 

"You spoke to that witch?" He sounded hurt. 

"Her magic can only reach me when I'm weakened." You paused in thought for far too long, replaying the witch's words over and over again in your head. "I'm afraid." 

"She can't hurt you here." He shifted to bring his arm around your shoulders, pulling you close with your head to his chest where he could place small kisses to the top of your head. "We'll figure out the garden, don't worry about that. What have you to be afraid of when I'm here to protect you?" 

"She gave me a cruel ultimatum. Show up in the village before today's sun sets or she'll put everyone under a sleeping curse. We can't fight back against that, no matter how much we want to it would be too far for you to travel without passing out and there's no way anyone's magic could travel with me that far." You squeezed his hand, refusing to look to him as you felt how loosely he was holding you. "I don't want to leave, but I'm afraid I no longer have a choice." 

Gabriel was silent, his hand stilled in yours as the air in the room seemed to settle like a wool blanket. 

"I have to go, Gabriel." You whispered, defeated. 

"There must be another way- you don't hold responsibility for them, they're not _your_ people-" 

"Will you walk me to the edge of the forest?" You interrupted his babbling. "Please." 

"I can't let you go. Not now, not when we've only just begun to understand our feelings-"

"I'm leaving." You pushed his hand away and shot to your feet, with your back turned to him, you bit at the edge of your thumbnail and stared at the door. "I'll find a way back to you, I promise. I'm leaving my things here, my journals will stay in my room until I return because I _will_ find a way." 

He placed a cautious hand on your shoulder and made you turn to face him. His eyes had never looked so glossy, rough hands never more gentle as he cupped your cheek and stared down to you with the corners of his lips downturned. You stepped forward, wrapped your arms around him and gripped into the back of his shirt as you buried your face to his chest. A king stood as you nuzzled against him, he was trembling and terrified to let go of you. He knew you would leave, regardless of his blessing, he knew there was no stopping you after you'd made up your mind.

"There's no time to waste then." He spoke against the top of your head. "Go change, I'll get Siebren and Olivia to clear some snow and open the gates." 

He walked with you, an arm over your shoulders to the doors where everyone gathered in the hall outside. Gabriel's somber expression had everyone looking at you with concern, he placed a few pats to your lower back before you started to run through the halls and up the stairs to your room as he explained what the witch had told you. Although your body ached as you sprinted up the stairs, you pushed yourself knowing a long journey was ahead of you. The black skirt of the dress which saw the start of a beautiful love left on hold floated around you as you ran and gripped the edges in your fists. 

Your room didn't feel the same when you opened the door. 

It was an uneasy settling, as you walked through the threshold it felt as if you knew you were seeing it for the last time. 

Just in case it was, you stood there for a few long breaths as you scanned everything from the fringe hanging off the bed to the woodgrain. A mask rested on the carpet, Reaper's left discarded with a promise to become a better man. Hope pinged in your heart, empty but still there, maybe you could convince the witch Gabriel had changed, that he was truly someone worthy of being loved. It had to be wishful thinking, you knew without a doubt that making a case for him so you could plead to stop the final blooming of the death blossom would be beyond difficult. 

Making sure to change into something that could whether a days-long journey to the village. With nothing more than a sling over your shoulder to carry a handful of essentials for the trip out. 

By the time you made it down the stairs into the main hall you found everyone lined up between the columns with solemn looks. Gabriel was waiting at the door, open and pouring light in from behind he'd dressed back in his usual armor ready to escort you as far as he could physically go. There was a terrible silence as you made your way through the group, your eyes bounced from person to person pleading silently that you were not abandoning them, that you would right the damage you accidentally caused. Before you made it to the door, Amélie reached out, grabbing your hand and stopping you as she bit at her lip holding back cries.

"I have to go, but I'm coming back. I am." You spoke softly as you grabbed her arm in return. 

"Be safe. That woman is far more dangerous than you can imagine." 

With a quick hug, you looked to the rest as well before turning away and heading out down a newly made path to the gates. Siebren's magic had torn apart vines once holding gates together now led to decorative iron gates opened for the first time in close to a decade. Gabriel placed his hand gently between your shoulder blades, guiding you far from the castle doors. Your body wanted to run, wanted to sprint as quickly as you could to the village but your heart wished for you to walk as slowly as possible to have every last moment of Gabriel by your side. 

He was quiet in the beginning, nothing more than simple circles with his thumb against your back as he thought well and long about how to say goodbye.

Through thickets of burned and desolate trees, through the village that once surrounded the castle grounds long since left in piles of char and abandonment. Further and further until the chill of morning quickly moved to a warm afternoon with snow from the trees melting down into muddy puddles. The forest felt far safer in the daylight, what would normally be twisting shadows against a horrible sky were now branches glittering with the white of snow. The skies were clear, clearer than they'd been in almost a week and you could swear even though you were far from the village, you could feel the sea breeze across your skin. 

You weren't even a few hours out when Gabriel began to lose his strength. His pace slowed, the hand at your spine slowly trailed further and further down until it was lazily resting at your lower back. 

"Thank you, for last night." He spoke weakly, his chest heaving in with a wheeze. Your legs, already aching and sore shook as you stopped him and looked deeply into his eyes. He was pushing himself too far, quietly suffering for the sake of having you only a few moments longer. Although he was weak, he smiled at you and rested his hands on each of your shoulders. "When you return, allow me to tell you how I feel about you." 

"You can tell me now." You pleaded beneath your breath as you grabbed his shirt. "...What if it's too late?" 

"I want to give you a reason to come back." He smiled like he was joking, then fell forward into a tight hug. "I know you will return, no matter how long." 

"Then I need to leave you here." You gripped hard, pulling him ever closer. "I'll run to the village as fast as I can so I can return to you even sooner." 

"So long, for now."

He parted from you just enough to trace your chin with his finger, lifting your head so he could place a long kiss to your lips. Although he was shaking, he lifted you with arms wrapped at your back, bringing you off your feet so he could hold you until you smiled and tapped him to be let down. With one final spin in his arms, he placed you, facing you the direction you needed to go. While he stayed in place, you let your hands trail over his arms and down to his palm until you broke off with a soft of cries beginning to grow in your chest. 

One last look, one last longing, far too sad look, and you turned to sprint far from him. 

Your heart was racing, the soles of your feet in pain with every hit against the dirt, forehead dripping sweat as you ran and ran. It must have been adrenaline, bring hopped up on the fear of losing everything, of never again seeing the people you knew you loved or the place you finally found you could call home. You were terrified, you were numb but you were determined and that drove you past a point you'd ever driven yourself before.

* * *

The sun was just beginning to fall the horizon line of the village ahead. 

Up until the point of you being within sight of the village, you noticed the roads were strangely empty. You slowed your pace after you found the main road, a familiar one which you'd once walked with Genji. You kept expecting to see someone, to find another person on horseback or knights patrolling but you were baffled as you found there was no one. No carts, no wanderers traveling from village to village, it was eerie and it forced your heart into hard beats as you approached the gates of the village expecting to find the worst. At most the only noises you heard were the occasional crack of branches in woods and the caws of birds finding their nests for the night. 

Your body was unbelievably tired. Even with short rests on particularly comfortable rocks or chances to lay in patches of grass on the way in, you were almost at a point of sheer exhaustion from simply seeing the massive village walls in the distance. 

Keep pushing. Keep going. People were depending on you! 

On the final stretch of road just before the walls, you heard the familiar sounds of hooves against dirt, the jangling of armor as someone bounced on top of a horse. You moved to the side, giving whoever it was room to pass as you partially collapsed your shoulder against the nearest trunk. With the sounds of riding growing closer and closer, you were buckling over, leaning your hands on your knees as your body was hit with waves of pain after walking and running all day long. The stomping of the horse slowed the nearer it became, you hoped it was simply to pass you safely- you didn't need somebody recognizing you and turning you in when you were so close to finding the witch. 

"You alright, ma'am?" 

This had to be your own personal hell. Of all people, of everyone in the fucking kingdom, why did you have to recognize that voice? 

"Ma'am I asked, are you alright there?" Jesse McCree spoke and much to your horror, you heard him shifting on his saddle. 

"Fine. Don't mind me." You spoke softly hoping he wouldn't know, hoping he was so thick skulled he would accept you waving him away and leave without pushing it further. 

"You don't look... fine." There was roll to his voice that shot nerves down your spine. "Well, I'll be dammed." 

Fuck. He knew. He absolutely knew. Should you run? Your body could try to sprint but you wouldn't get far, you could tell that much. The clattering of his boots hitting the ground startled you as you kept your face turned away from him and froze in a panic. You needed to say something, do something. You were too afraid to look over your shoulder to find out how close he was. You were frozen although you mind was screaming at you to do anything to get away. Throw a rock. Get out the knife Akande taught you how to use. _Something_. 

A metal hand grabbed your wrist, pulling it hard behind your back causing your knees to give out beneath you. As you fell to the ground with your legs digging into dirt, his heavy body toppled with you and it was a blur before he had both your arms behind you being bound as you struggled against him. He chuckled, chuckled before you stilled and tried to catch your breath. Resting against your back, he leaned his face between your shoulders, smiling and nuzzling you like a long lost lover. 

"Sorry to be so rough, darlin'. Now I'm not usually like this, I think you remember this much, but I can't chance you runnin' from me again." He stepped back, pulling you to your feet with hurt groan escaping your lips. "You sure did give me plenty of time to think about what I wanna do for that date you promised me. Don't worry, I got it all figured out by now."


	21. He's No Monster

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: This chapter has unwanted (non sexual) touching

The definition of romance must have changed while you were away in the castle. 

"That's quite the sour look you have there." Jesse smiled at you as if he hadn't tossed you over his steed and took you kicking and screaming into his home.

You sat at his dining table, freed from your bindings and free to run, only the fear of what he might do if you did keeping you in your seat. He was humming to himself as he stirred a pot on his stove, the room reeked of heavy handed spices, it hurt your heart feeling the pang of longing for the usual smells of the kitchen in the castle. He had a bouquet of flowers set out for you, a card with your name dangling from it but they seemed to be wilting and weathering away the longer you sat there. 

His bedroom door was open, across his sheets you caught a glimpse of white lace before he sat you down at his table. Something about him was off, it felt like he'd dropped a mask, like a curtain had been lifted and you could feel it in your stomach that you were finally seeing exactly who Jesse McCree was. The air around was heavy with smoke, choking you as you dared not to cough out of fear it would insult him. 

"I don't want any part in whatever this is, Jesse." You spoke slowly, glaring at him wishing your stare could free you. "I know what you did. The curse you asked the witch to put on me, the way you just stood there as King Reyes died. You're ruthless and selfish. What gave you the right to put up posters of me? To offer a reward? I am not _yours_." 

"You call that man a king?" He threw his stirring spoon to the counter, his anger snapping toward you. The look in his eyes burned as he pulled the cigar from his lips and put it out on his counter without care. "You know, when Moira first told me you'd been hidin' out at his castle I thought to myself, _no not my girl she's smarter than that_. I thought there was no way you'd be so dumb as to stick around with the type of company that occupies that horrible place. I outright didn't believe her. I thought better of you, but as soon as she knew that's where you were, oh I was in a world of hurt because she conjured this up." 

Your shoulder tensed and he grabbed something from his pocket, tossing it across the table. Heavy metal thudded as it came to a skidding stop directly in front of you and you stared down in confusion. It looked like a handheld compact, just slightly bigger than your palm, you were afraid to pick it up or unlatch the intricately carved metal clasp. 

"Go on, open it." He snarled at you. "Look right in and ask to see your precious monster." 

Hesitantly, you flicked it open and revealed mirrors on the inside, cracked and wavering. Magic mirrors, you should have expected something like that from someone as unhinged as Jesse McCree. 

"Show me Gabriel Reyes." You spoke quietly, almost afraid of what you'd see. 

Enchanted with the witch's magic, it rippled away from your reflection revealing the image of Gabriel ripping dead plants from the soil in the greenhouse. He was caked in dirt and sweat, with this far away somber look in his eyes. The moment you could see him, those burning red eyes of his across his arms and his cheeks, over his neck and down into the neckline of his shirt, they all snapped to look directly in the mirror. There was no way he could see you but it felt as if he was staring directly into your soul. He paused to look up into the air in confusion, turned over his shoulder to check around.

 _I'm right here!_ You screamed in your mind wishing beyond anything that he could hear you. _I'm with Jesse and he's lost his mind, Gabriel!_

"The first time I looked, would you guess at what I saw?" Jesse spoke with a bitter tone as he fell into the seat across from you but you kept glancing down at Gabriel wishing he could just jump through and save you. "That monster with his hands all over your god damn body, you were soaked to the bone and shiverin' like a dog and he had the audacity to look at you with lust." 

"He was helping me." You protested weakly, it must have been after you'd fallen victim to the freeze of snow. Your thumb ran over the cold surface of the mirror and you watched as Gabriel yelled out, only to cover his mouth and run his hand over his face in unsure embarrassment. 

"His help ain't worth much." He snarled and reached across the table, grabbing the compact and snapping it shut. "Made you feel special, didn't he? Made you feel loved, like you were part of his little family? I'd bet you don't know half of what he's done." 

"He's suffered the witch's consequences." You slammed your hands on the table, ready to push yourself to your feet. "I don't need you to tell me who he is, Jesse McCree. He's told me all about what he did, even the terrible shit. He's changed, he's kind and he wants to be good. You don't know him anymore. You have no right to speak for him after you stood outside his door and let him bleed to death." 

"No right?" Jesse hit his metal fist to the table. "No right?! Did he even tell you what he did to me?! Never think to ask him why he was hated so much that a curse was cast on him we thought impossible to break?" 

"I know he's done terrible things-"

"I ain't askin' about what he did as king, I'm askin' _do you know what he did to me?_ Did he ever tell you why he deserves to be hated?" Jesse was red in the face, glossy eyed and pounding his fist against the wood sending waves of panic over you. 

"No." You said quietly. "I don't know specifically what he did to you." 

"I'm not tryin' to scare you, let me make that clear." He softened as he saw you sinking in your seat. That metal hand of his reached out, moving to hold your fingers gently even as you squirmed. "Sorry I get so heated about this, it's just- Gabriel Reyes is a bad, bad man. Trust me, if there's anyone in the world who can understand what it's like to be blinded by him it's me, I spent most of my life with the man. I'm sorry for all the theatrics to get you back, I am, but now that I have you I need make sure you won't go back there, cause if you do I'll never see you again."

"You can't change my mind about him." You shook your head as you held back a wavering voice and tore your hand from his. 

Was there really anything he could tell you that would change your view on the former king? He'd owned up to many terrible things, to murders and torturing, you saw the pain in his eyes when he spoke of it, saw the regret of the things he'd done and could never take back. 

"Yeah? Well, when I was young, just before my fourteenth birthday actually, I got locked away in Morrison's kingdom for causin' trouble. I was the youngest in the dungeons, got picked on by all the other prisoners, had to steal what little scraps we were given for food, damn I didn't even see sunlight for a few years. Then this one day the door opens up and it's King Reyes, I ain't ever seen him in person before, only heard the rumors from other guys down there that he was not to messed with. Come to find out he was there searchin' for someone with no connections, someone who would be loyal to him, that he could make his personal guard and right hand man. Sick bastard was looking for someone broken that he could mold into whatever he wanted." 

"He freed you, how could you ever be angry at him for taking you from prison and giving you a life?" You asked in anger. 

"That's the thing. He didn't _choose_ me. He threw down a knife to the middle of the floor and you know what he said to us? _'Kill each other. Last one standing will live as a king for the rest of their days.'_ It was a bloodbath of everyone fightin' for the blade, everyone wantin' their way out." Jesse's unwavering eye contact left you breathless. "Don't get me wrong, Morrison's not innocent either, he's the one that put Reyes up to it. I can see the shock on your face, don't worry he's gettin' what's comin' to him too, but I'm sure you're wondering why he'd do it? Said the prison was gettin' overcrowded, couldn't taint his own name though you see, so he had Reyes do it instead. He always had Reyes do the dirty work and in return Reyes could run his own kingdom peacefully. That day he was in the dungeon with us, I think I killed over two dozen men and at the time I was fuckin' elated cause that meant I'd have a bed to sleep in for the rest of time."

"I don't want to hear any more of this." You shook your head, stomach flipping. 

"But now I'm all messed up, see, I know my view of world is warped. The sounds of people dyin' it sticks with you. Oh and Reyes, he just kept pushin' and pushin'-" 

"Please-" 

"And I never once questioned it. I was his right hand man, his executioner. The man practically raised me to turn into the same fucked up he is." Jesse pushed himself out of his chair, turning to stir his pot roughly. "He doesn't deserve sympathy or love."

"That's-" You were too scared to move, your bones felt as if they were buzzing beneath your skin, the bottom of your feet burned as you searched every corner of your mind to think of ways you could survive long enough to get out of Jesse McCree's home. "Jesse, please. I know you're not crazy, I know you don't want to hurt me, I can see that. I promise if you just let me walk out that door right now to go find the witch, I'll come back to you."

"Oh don't you worry, we're goin' to see Moira." As he stirred, his fingers hit the side of the pot burning him from his own clumsiness. "First we're gonna have a nice meal, sit down and talk this all out. Tonight is special for us and I'm gonna make sure of it. You remember that robe I let you borrow? I know you liked that one, if you want to freshen up after walking all that way it's waitin' in the bathroom. I'm not trying to make you uncomfortable, I just need you to be a little patient with me. We're both gonna have to compromise here to get what we want." 

"I don't want-" 

"Just give me a chance to show you how you've been fooled by that false king." He reached out for you, his metal hand twisting as if he was going to help you but it sent your mind into a blinding panic. You'd been tied down, thrown over his horse, tossed over his shoulder to be taken into a home you never wanted to see the inside of again. Gabriel may have done things wrong in his lifetime, but he knew when to let things go. 

"Don't touch me." You scrambled out of your seat, the chair scraped across the ground and hit it with an echoing thud. Your legs were shaking, sore to a point of almost giving out beneath you. 

"Hey, now-" He snatched his hands away and put them in the air, an expression of hurt crossing his face. "Listen I said I was sorry for gettin' rough, I'm not tryin' to do anything funny with you. I mean it. I know who I am, I may not be the most decent fellow around but I am certainly not someone who goes around hurtin' for no reason. If you don't want me touchin' you, I won't. You have my word. Just wanted to help you up so you could fix your own plate." 

"I'm not hungry." You protested weakly, knowing your stomach was grumbling. 

"I don't believe that for a minute." There he went again, turning on his charm with a soft smile. "Look, see I'm not tryin' to poison you or anythin'." 

He turned to his pot, brought a steaming spoon of something that smelled far too strong up to his lips and slurped it down with an obnoxiously loud sigh. He even turned his back, taking his eyes off you for moments to pour his own bowl. He placed his own opposite of you on the table and stepped back, motioning to invite you towards his stove.

In strained silence, you kept your eyes on him as you moved your chair back into its proper place, and made your way to the pot to shakily poured your own. 

"If I trust you, I need the truth, Jesse." You side eyed him as he leaned into his seat, resting his arm over the back hiding away his metal arm. "What really happened to your arm that night of the attack?" 

"My arm?" He gripped at the metal of his forearm, pulling it close to himself. "It was my price for Moira's power, the means to the end of a deal we made over all the years of knowing each other. I'm sure you remember what I told you, lost it after havin' it shot off on the way back to the village. I was tellin' the truth when I said it was on my way, but well... Moira's not really someone that takes too lightly to someone goin' back on their word. She wanted me to prove my loyalty." 

"You stood guard as your king died, what else could you prove?" You asked bitterly.

"There was one other who was going to be cursed that day. They never done anything wrong other than follow orders, I think out of everyone in the castle he was the one I felt closest to." He stirred his bowl and chewed at his cheek. "It's what I get for bein' soft on someone, I suppose."

"I don't understand." 

"Well Moira had a few things to finish up that night, you see. She found each of the people on her list, cursed them all personally but I saw my opportunity to save the only person I cared about and we booked it outta there under the guise that we were leading a charge. We ran and ran, tried my best to put as much distance between us and her but she seemed to know just where we were headin'. She stopped us while we were in the forest and to protect him, I, well I had to do somethin' I'm not too proud of. I knocked him out cold so I could have a conversation with her civilly, you know? She wasn't interested in what I had to say. Thought I betrayed her, wanted me to show her I was willin' to do what she asked without question." 

"It was Genji Shimada, wasn't it?" You asked coldly, your spoon having not left your bowl.

"Indeed it was. He hates me now, I get it, but I saved that man's ass. Struck a deal with Moira, if she would let him go, let him be free from Overland than I'd do whatever it took to prove myself." He lifted his metal arm, curled his fingers opened then closed again before he looked right at you. "She's powerful, but she has a weakness. Her magic is killin' her, eatin' her up from the inside out. At the time, her hand was almost completely dead, all black and necropsied. She needed a transfer of equal life, and I offered her my own arm. Hurt to holy hell, honestly I wish it'd just been shot off." 

"Why would you never tell Genji what you did for him?" 

"My life has other plans. Her and I, we're in this together, have been since the beginning. We always don't see eye to eye, but Moira? We're family. Not blood, but by bond and if I told him he would have gotten in the way of our plans." He gulped down a spoonful before smiling back at your testing taste. "I know she doesn't want you around, she thinks I can't focus cause of you. I'm gonna show her I'm even more powerful with you at my side, that I need you if you're going to finish this." 

"Finish... what?" Whatever he made was even worse than the food he cooked last time you were at his house, salty and fishy although you were pretty sure there wasn't any meat at all in the dish you wished you could spit it back into the plate without insulting him. 

"This kingdom is going to be ours. She'll have her magic behind the scenes, no one will know she's part of it because I'll be the king. Not just of the split kingdoms, of a village or a forest, I'll be the king of all of Overland. No one above me tellin' me what to do, after being denied for so long I will finally have what I've worked for. We're gearing up now to take on Morrison and his team of old timers who are too comfortable up there in their castle." 

You were speechless, left numb as you set there with the spoon twisting in the bowl. He was always a soldier, even when he was wandering the village being a dopey drunk he'd been carrying such hatred, such resentment for so long. All the possibilities of how you could escape were running through your mind, Akande's warnings of how to use your knife were useless after Jesse had taken your sack but you were thinking of all the ways you could attack with the spoon in your hand or with the shards of a broken mirror. 

You couldn't run now, you need the witch to lift your curse otherwise you were doomed to a lifetime of surrounding death. You had to play along, string him until you could reach her then find a way to give her what she wanted while also finding a way back to your home. Everything in your body told you to get away from him, but you were fighting it. You felt disgusting. 

"You look like you're gonna be sick." Jesse spoke with a serious tone as he leaned across the table. "I'm not tryin' to say any of this to scare you. I'm just givin' you the honest truth, that's all you'll get from me here on out, the honest truth." 

"I think I need that bath." You stole your hand away from his and turned from your seat, your legs trembled beneath you. With a pause, you looked at him. "Is that okay?"

"That's fine, but I hate to ask, you gotta keep that door open. Can't have you climbing out the window or anything. You have my promise I won't peek." 

Nodding your head, you accepted. What did it matter? You regularly bathed with others in the castle, Jesse had seen you bare before. Even then, as you made your way to the tub and left the door open, knowing he was just the stretch of neck away from peering in made your skin crawl. 

The shirt you wore was the one you grabbed from Gabriel's floor, if you held it close enough and pushed through your own stink you could still smell him. You let the water run while you held it close and tried to remember what it was like falling asleep again his chest. A brief moment of peace was broken as you heard Jesse coughing at the table and hitting his chest as if he'd just downed his food too fast, you rolled your eyes and stripped away to sink beneath the water. 

His brass tub remained in the same partially grimy state it was the last time you climbed in a lifetime ago. Draped over his sink was the robe, almost like he'd been expecting you but you couldn't get caught up in the idea of him waiting around for you to show up otherwise it would have eaten you up.

The longer you were there, the more uneasy you felt.

The air was shifting. The entire world coming to a standstill as you waited for the water to grow cold. 

"I'm sure you're clean enough by now." Jesse called out to you after you'd let your mind wander for far too long. It was only when you moved again that you felt how freezing it'd turned. You curled and uncurled your toes, grimacing at muscles that pulled with every movement before you managed to push yourself out enough to get over the edge. Inwardly upset at your only option for clean clothes, you wrapped his robe tightly around your body and found him waiting just outside the door. 

"Can we go see the witch now?" You asked with a weak voice. 

"One last thing." He held out his hand, eyes soft as you slowly rested your fingers to his palm.

With his other hand, he wrapped it at your hip and twisted you around the corner until you were looking into his bedroom and felt all the air leave your lungs. The source of the white lace across his bed was a simple wedding dress, waiting and laid out just for you. 

"I need you to accept my hand in marriage to make this official." He whispered with a smile.

"No." You blurted out before you could think.

"No? Don't tell me you're still thinkin' of that monster who kept you prisoner in his castle?" 

"I was _not_ his prisoner-" 

"My offer wasn't a question." 

"Jesse-" You gasped as his hands closed in at your arms. 

"We're in this together now, you and I. See with your hand, that means when we finally defeat Morrison _I_ get my happy ending, _I_ get the castle and the queen, _I_ get the life I've been denied all along." He had this wild look in his eyes as he grabbed you by the arm and brought you into his bedroom where while lace waited sprawled across his bed. "I knew you were the one for me the moment I saw you there in the square. Beautiful, well spoken, and if that wasn't enough to convince me then it was the way you were so _needy_ for me. We have something that no one else does. Don't deny it, I know you felt it too. You wouldn't have stayed the night if you hadn't." 

"Is that what you think love is, Jesse?" You gripped at your shirt and stared into his dark eyes. 

"No." He pulled you in, leaving you stumbling over your feet and catching yourself before you fell to the floor. "I tried to force it, I'm not bigger than admitin' to that, I did. I know when I've done somethin' wrong and I'm gonna keep makin' that up to you our whole lives together. See you may not love me yet, but I promise after I treat you _right_ , after you see how a real man acts, you'll forget all about that monster." 

"You have a lot of nerve calling him that when you're acting like this." You glared as you landed on the edge of his bed. 

"Get changed." He snarled before he turned his back and waited for you. 

What a horrific dress.

It wasn't ugly, no that wasn't the problem, it was simply making your stomach turn knowing that while you'd been harboring feelings for a king there was someone far off dreaming about the day he'd have you in a wedding dress. It looked like it was going to be just about your size, the entirety of it was made of an aging white lace from the skirt all the way to the tight wrist length sleeves and the collar that stood rigid around the neck before dropping to a low dip at the chest. With a sinking feeling in your stomach creeping into your veins, you lifted the sleeve to feel the fabric between your fingers. 

"Take any longer and I'll put it on you myself!" Jesse growled out, making you jump and snap to stare at the doorway. 

Your reluctance quickly picked up with your heart rate. Making a point to make as much noise as possible, to show him that you were complying, you hurried to untie the robe and bring the dress over your body. With a grimace, lips curled between biting teeth, you tried not to think about how scratchy it was against your skin or how he must have gone out of his way to pick it out especially for you.

Much to your horror, the buttons at the back of the dress, buttons that fastened along your spine all the way the top of your neck were too tiny to blindly fumble with. You could hear him impatiently tapping his foot, his heavy boot bouncing as he leaned against the doorframe. 

As much as you hated to think of it, you could use the opportunity to twist it in your favor, to get him thinking that you wouldn't run from him. 

"Jesse?" You called to him over your shoulder, your back turned to him. "I think I need your help buttoning it, if that's alright." 

"You do?" His voice was so gentle, he even had a small smile as he peeked in and caught you half dressed. 

Keeping your back turned to him, you held the shoulders of the dress up hoping not to reveal too much. He chuckled to himself as he closed in on you, without even seeing his face you could hear the smirk on his lips when smoke began to trail in. The smell of his freshly lit cigar threatened to make you sick to your stomach as his hands slid up your sides and over your shoulders until he reached the buttons at the back of your neck. You closed your eyes, unable to hold back the overwhelming anger that sunk in, he was rough with his movements, frustrated with how big his fingers were and how hard it was to push tiny buttons through their loops. 

Every pull of the strings screamed in your mind, louder and louder: _If anyone, this should be Gabriel._

All the way down your spine, until he was done, you held your breath. 

"God damn." He sighed out, even going so far as to take his hat off and press it to his chest as he turned you to get a good look. "This is just the most incredible sight I've ever seen." 

"I'd really like to go see the witch now." You practically begged beneath your breath, having quite enough humiliation for the evening. 

With a smile, he led you out.

The air felt _wrong_. Clouds in the sky above which should have been dark and lifeless were stirring above the village with flashes of yellow between but not a noise was made around you. The street lamps flickered with fire, but the usual sounds of carts wheeling over the dirt streets or rowdy men stumbling out of taverns. The entire town was eerily quiet, as if not a single soul other than you and Jesse were alive. It wasn't until you passed his gate that you realized why, guards who had been set up outside his home were now fallen to the street, sleeping where they once stood, weapons still in their hands. 

"Dammit, she is so impatient." Jesse snarled as he stepped over one of the guards. He turned to his horse, then to you and offered his arm. "Best not keep her waitin' any longer. C'mon now, let me help you up so you don't get that dress of yours all dirty." 

As much as you didn't want to, you placed your hands on his shoulders and he lifted you at your hips to hoist you up into a sidesaddle seat. Jesse wrapped the reigns tightly around his fist, a silent show that you had no chance of escaping with his steed and he began to lead it with a grunt. 

"What do you expect her to do, Jesse?" 

"Marry us so you can't leave Overland, of course." He tsked back at you. "After that, we're gonna get to work on our plan to finish makin' me the king." 

"Aren't you afraid of her?" Your eyes scanned the streets, people who'd fallen to the sides, lamps left unattended, confused animals wandering in the shadows. 

"Not in the least bit." He smiled. 

He was leading you on his steed to the town square, to the clock tower above a long since abandoned church. With a helpful arm at your waist that made you snarl and look to the skies above, he brought you to your feet and led you up flight after flight of stairs until you reached the top. 

You felt her long before you laid eyes on her.

The power she radiated, her magic, it was the same feeling as the sky before a thunderstorm begins to downpour. The stilled buzzing that would make the hair on your arms stand at attention or prickle at the back of your neck stayed constant against your skin. At the top of the stairs, the shadowy slender figure of a woman stood against the glowing of the face in the clocktower, at her side the dog that once appeared through the snow with mismatched eyes sat with ears at attention. She was curling her fingers over its head, petting the dog slowly and carefully ensuring her long sharp nails stayed out of danger.

She turned only her head, looking over her shoulder toward you as orange hair fell over her eyes, illuminated by the light of the clock. 

"You're _late_." 


	22. Kill The Beast

"It's a pleasure to finally meet you in person." The witch had this way of smiling, her lips thin and long that pulled up to one side that overwhelmed your body with a deep sense of fear. "What a treat to finally have someone around that has their whits about them, even if you have arrived well after the sunset." 

"Believe me, I would have been here sooner if-" You began to grumble only for Jesse to wrap his arm tightly at your shoulder and pull you close. 

"She was gettin' ready for our big night, cut her some slack. Always jumpin' the gun, quick to fall back on your spells. The whole town is gonna be all groggy when you lift that sleeping curse you know, which is not exactly ideal considering _our plan_." 

"Our plan does not involve a _third party,_ Jesse." She scolded with a stern glare. She had those mismatched eyes the dog did, red and blue that blazed against the glow of the clockface that spanned floor to ceiling behind her. "She will only get in the way. The moment we charge into our battle she will be used against you by that sociopath who runs the kingdom. Regardless of what you think you feel, this woman is leaving tonight." 

The witch grabbed at you, a thin clawed hand reached out and wrapped long nailed fingers at your forearm pulling you toward her. It left you breathless looking down and realizing how cold she was, along her arm were terribly dark veins creeping over her skin leading to dying black fingertips and chipped jagged nails. You tried to jerk away, hoping to pull away from one horror show into another only to fall into Jesse's arms as if you were some kind of meek maiden on the verge of a fainting spell. His arms, muscular and uncomfortable around your body as he hugged you with your back to his chest. 

Your stomach sank as it truly occurred to you how dangerous it was to be between them. 

"I've done everythin' you've asked of me, and more, Moira you better give me this one thing, or I, I'll-" Jesse was gripping you harder and harder with every word, his metal fingers dragging against the lace of the dress. You could feel the jumps of his dry sobs, emotion bubbling to the surface that you knew you didn't want to be in front of. "You promised me I'd have my happy ending to all this shit, look at what I've given you! I deserve this one thing!" 

"Silence!" She growled with a voice that scraped at even the stone on the walls. "Insolent, pathetic. So focused on nothing more than blind lust that led you to lose sight of our true endgame. I will not allow your heart to grow soft at our most vulnerable moment, do you not see how close we are, pause for even a moment to look through the fog clearly Jesse and you will understand that you have lost sight, _and for what?_ Honestly, I believed you to be stronger than simple emotions."

"I want nothing to do with this." You pleaded to the witch, wanting more than to be as far from Jesse McCree as you could be. "Please, release me from my curse and let me go, I won't be any trouble."

"You're not goin' anywhere." Jesse pressed his cheek to the side of your head, his lips brushing at your ear and a deep voice hooked into your skull. "I'm askin' for somethin' simple Moira. Just marry us and we can get on with all this nonsense. I'm dead serious, see I brought the ribbon and all." 

You grimaced and tried not to think of the worst as he shifted around behind you, his body bumping and shuffling against your back until one hand jutted out in front of you with a blindingly white satin ribbon. Before you could protest, or pull away, he grabbed at your hand and brought it eye level. One arm held you tightly at your waist as he fumbled to wrap the ribbon around your palm leaving it loose. With little ceremony, he slipped his hand between the ribbon and locked his fingers with yours before pulling it tightly around your intertwined hands. 

The embrace he held you in would have at one time made your heart flutter, the way he was so close, his breath against your neck, in another life perhaps it would have made you shiver and blush but as he held your body against his all you could feel was cold hatred and the growing panic to escape. 

"You need me, Moira." Jesse huffed out and hugged you closer. "If you wanna end all this, you're gonna have to give me what I want. No way around it."

"You behave like a spoiled child, Jesse. Stubborn and bratty if he can't get exactly what he wants, have you no shame? Can you not see you're forcing this poor girl into a life she neither dreams of nor desires?" 

"Here's what's gonna happen, both of you listen closely to me now." Jesse grabbed you roughly, readjusting you in his grip to make sure you stayed against him. The metal of his fingers dug into your hip as his sweating hand squeezed around your palm intertwined with the ribbon. "Moira, you're gonna undo this nice young woman's spell so we can live happily together without any interruptions. After that's done and over with, you're gonna marry us. I'm only gonna go along with all our plans once I can call this gorgeous woman my wife." He paused to press a smiling kiss against your cheek. "See, I can admit when I've done wrong. I know I asked for things that maybe weren't possible, messed with the order of things and all that, but I learned my lesson. I know now I can't force things, I'm gonna let this grow naturally, let us fall in love just like we were supposed to."

"Please, Gabriel-" You began to protest. 

"Don't you dare-" Jesse's metal hand, cold and pinching shot to your neck, fingers curling at the stretch of your throat in a tight threat. "Don't you ever speak that name around me again, you understand? That man is dead and has no business bein' on your mind."

"How very spinless of you, Jesse." The witch spoke as she stroked the backs of her long fingers over the dog's head. "Trading in a spell for a ceremony, you can't bind her one way so you found another. My darling, believe me, if it were up to me completely you would be free from this and on the next ship out but it appears my partner has decided you are worth putting everything on the line for."

"I know what you're capable of, you can stop this. Please, I know how powerful you are-" You begged as Jesse tried to force your shaking hand steady. 

"It is not a matter of power." The snarl on her lips loomed over you as she closed in, her frame so much taller than you and a nail pressed at the edge of your chin forcing you to look up. "Our plans have been set out for decades. I will not allow this one fluctuation in it, as his bride you'll need to make yourself useful, we'll tell you only what you need to know in order for us to overthrow that golden king. You must keep your mind about yourself if you wish to stay alive."

"Please, please I need to get back to the castle, have a heart-" 

"Silence!" Her voice echoed off the walls of the clocktower, stronger than before as she pressed two fingers to your lips to quiet you.

Her mismatched eyes burned brighter and brighter as she whispered words you had no comprehension for. It was as if you'd been wandering through a fog, that you'd seen the world through clouds and as the curse was lifted you were finally breathing in fresh air for the first time. The underlying buzzing, a creeping fear at the bottom of your heart which had you harboring doubts for months was now all too clear. 

You'd been held back, by force, by magic. Your heart with black claws dug into the sides protecting it from feeling the fullness you did as the witch's curse left your body. 

Feelings crashed into you, waves that struck at your nerves and your brain screaming at full volume.

There were no more doubts.

You loved Gabriel Reyes, you loved the dead king of Overland's dark forests. 

You needed to get back to him, no matter what it took. 

Between the witch and Jesse, you were struggling to contain your staggering emotions. His arms were so tight around you, her eyes so terrifying, your vision began to blur with the beginning of tears. You were resolved to endure, to hold tight to the hope that beyond a life of cigar smoke and wars against an army of sunflowers you would find your way back to Gabriel. 

"There, feeling a little better, baby?" Jesse cooed at you, his face far too close to your cheek for comfort. 

"Don't call me that-"

"Now then, onto the order of us gettin' married. Moira, would you do us the honors now that my silly spell has been lifted from my bride to be?" 

"I suppose." The witch curled away, standing out of arms reach and looking at you with a horrific mix of sympathy and disgust. "Bring your hands out."

At her demand, Jesse forced his arm forward, taking your hand tied with his stretched out in front of you. That ribbon tying your hand to his trembled against his as he gripped it tight and it brought it before the witch. She gingerly reached out, her long fingers resting gently at the top of your hand as your eyes darted around the room searching for any way out, any last chance to escape the assigned last name of McCree.

"We are gathered here this evening to honor the union of this man and this woman." The witch began, shifting her gaze between you and Jesse. "With this marriage, these two shall forever be in an inseparable union until their ultimate, and with some luck, far off deaths of one another. This is a contract you are each entering is of willingness and, more sincerely, of love... or at the very least what appears to be love."

"It's love." Jesse whispered with a smile as he leaned his head against yours. Meanwhile, at the small of your back you felt something small and hard poke you, barrel-shaped almost as if he was holding the end of a handgun against your spine. "Isn't it, darlin'?" 

"Love-" You spoke, your voice empty and dropping off as you eyed the stairs leading down vying to find a way out. You were numb, unsure if you were sweating or on the border of a panic. "Of course, love." 

"Well, then-" The witch sucked in a sharp breath. "With this tie, this unbroken circle that binds you together hand by hand before me on this evening you are declaring a love for each other that will forever remain unbroken. From this day on, the two of you will remain committed to each other, to love each other unconditionally regardless of the heartwrenching tasks at hand. No obstacle will come between you, nothing to separate or pry you apart from one another regardless of intent because your love is... so strong. To confirm this union, we will now complete our vows. Jesse McCree, do you take this woman to be your lifelong partner, your love-"

"I do." Jesse had trouble controlling his voice, hi barking out against her as he shook at your hand. "Get on with it, Moira."

"And do you-"

With your head feeling light as air, your mind blanking as you imagined yourself claiming his last name and intertwining your hand with his for the remainder of your life, you stared back at the witch blankly. You squinted, scrunched your nose and looked away as you stared harder and harder, you weren't sure if you were just imaging things or if the clockface to the tower was actually growing brighter. 

The yellow-orange glow of lamplights quickly grew to a blinding yellow against the glass of the clockface. 

There was a metallic thunk, a sharp noise that had everyone pause and stare at one another with suspicion.

Moira's snarling lips lifted as if to accuse you of causing the noise, only to be cut off by the striking sound of glass shattering and a pained gasp to escape from her throat.

You stumbled back against Jesse only to be caught in his arms tightly. In the commotion of the clockface bursting in thousands of glittering shards, she turned and you eyed an arrow buried at her shoulder. Outside, just beyond the glass, three figures stood with one as the source of the brilliant yellow light blinding the clockface- yellow wings of a woman that hovered just off the ground with her hands out and a sour look across her face. The whistle of arrows coming towards you caused Moira and Jesse to split, his hand left yours taking with it the ribbon as you slid away and just barely made it past a flute of metal whizzing by your eyes. It was a breath of calm to know you were no longer attached to him, that given the chance you could run. 

Amidst the chaos, you stumbled back into glass shards just as you heard a familiar voice calling your name in a panic. Somewhere far below, your eyes caught Genji as he pushed the armor over his face up, he was calling out to you with a wavering voice as if he was surprised to see you behind the falling shards. 

Trapped in danger, the world seems to move in slow motion.

You glanced over your shoulder to see Jesse twirling his pistol from his holster, he had this maniacal terrible look on his face that had your stomach turning as you fell to the floor. The witch was twisting her fingers in a crooked awful fashion, magic sparking between digits as she stared with deep seeded hatred toward the woman with the yellow wings. On the ground, Hanzo was motioning up to you, fear in his eyes told you whatever was about to happen, you did not want to be in the middle of. With lace of the white dress balled in your fists, you placed your full trust in your gut reaction and ran straight towards the shattered clock. Somewhere behind you, Jesse was growling out your name and a hand just barely missing where he grabbed to hold you back by the collar of your dress. With nothing but blind faith, you lept from the upper story of the building past the woman, straight towards two brothers. 

Genji's quick reflexes kicked in and with a strength you had not seen for yourself before, he jumped into the air to catch you. After he caught you the landing was still rough, rather than landing on your own legs and breaking them in the process, he landed skidding across dirt to the tune of Jesse McCree screaming above and your bodies tumbled. The lace of the dress tore and stained, your aching body shook, but even covered in dirt and forehead beading with sweat, you'd never been more thankful to see a friendly face. 

"Have you been with him this entire time?!" Genji gasped out as you laid with your back to the cold ground and metal fingers cupped at your cheeks. "I have been looking for you! We all have!" 

"The witch was the one who cursed me, I'm so sorry I left, Genji! For a while I was lost, but I ended up at Reyes castle!" You blurted out and winched as blinding magic cut through fighting above. "He's alive, Genji! King Reyes is alive-"

"That is not possible." Genji breathed out and helped you to your feet, he lifted his arm, shielding you from debris and arrows falling. "I was there on that day, I know what I heard, what I saw-"

"I have so much to tell you. Not here, I need to get back-"

"Look at what you're wearing, you were with him and Moira, Moira is here! We thought she left after the battle, why are you with them-!" 

"Come with me! Get me to the castle and away from that insane man upstairs who's been working with the witch the entire time. I can tell you all of this Genji, but you need to help me!" You pleaded as fighting spilled out into the street, the woman with yellow wings pushed back by the glow of the witch's purple who's magic spiderwebbed out into the air furiously. Hanzo shot arrow after arrow at the witch's familiar where it lept from the window to attack him on the ground. You needed to get out of there, the sooner the better. "I need to leave, now." 

A pained yell echoed into the sky, and the woman with yellow wings fell to a hard crash just off the side of you. Without missing a beat, she bore her teeth and pushed herself back up to return to the fight that was quickly about to overtake you. She turned to Genji, with a wild look in her eye and shot her own magic to the ground. Genji had so many questions, his eyes were searching around for answers that would never come. 

He finally turned to you, a hand wrapped at your arm, his expression lost between genuine sorrow and a twinkle of hope. 

"Okay. Okay, I trust you are not working with them, but if this turns out to be some kind of scheme, if you are deceiving me-" 

"I can prove I'm telling the truth, please you just need to help me out of here." Your voice dropped as the woman with the wings closed in. Genji turned to her and paused as she searched his face for a reasonable explanation of why there was a woman in a wedding dress jumping from a clocktower into his arms. Although her attention was on you for a few moments, she seemed far more concerned with the witch and the familiar that were trying with all their might to break a protective barrier out of the clocktower. 

"I thought you said it would only be Jesse here?" The woman's voice wavered as she struggled to hold up a shield of flimsy magic to bring a moment of peace. "How could you not know _she_ was here?!" 

"It seems this may be a bigger fight than we were anticipating!" He shouted back. Jesse's shots rang through the square only to be stopped by the forcefield she created above you and Genji paused to let out sharp breaths. "We are underprepared for something like this. Look at what she's done to the village already, had we arrived any earlier we would have been under a sleeping curse just like everyone else. I know when we can not win a battle, Angela. I say you return to the king, as quickly as you can to rally their forces. Take Hanzo with you, warn them the witch is working with the former knight of King Reyes. We need to prepare!" 

"Why does it sound like you're not coming with us?" She asked with uncertainty. 

"Have faith in me." Genji reached out with a small smile before turning to Jesse's horse where it stood whining and stomping out of fear of the fighting around. "There is something I need to see for myself. If you have not heard from me in three days, come look for me at the former Reyes castle in the dark forest." 

"Reyes castle?! Why would you-" 

"Go now, retreat!" He demanded as you jumped to the back of the horse with him and held him tightly. "Protect yourselves and get away from them as quickly as possible!"

"We'll see to it you can escape without incident." Hanzo shouted, overhearing the plan and accepting his bother's demands. 

"Where the hell do you think you're goin'?!" Jesse screamed from the clocktower, you could see him aiming his gun, the barrel pointed at Genji but he was looking right at you. "Don't you dare leave me here! If you head back there, I'll hunt you down and kill that monster myself!" 

The horse bucked and moved brutally beneath you causing you to tighten your hold around Genji's core and bury your face with eyes shut tight. Jesse's shouting faded into the empty sleepy streets. 

It must have been some version of whiplash, the relief of knowing your curse had been lifted, but the fear that they knew were you were going, that there were two very powerful people who could find you before help would ever come. At the very least you knew for the moment you were safe, that Genji finally found you and the two people you were the most afraid of were being distracted for the time being.

Far behind you, high into the sky fighting echoed as hooves stomped heavily beneath you. Every breath felt like a burden, your chest weighed down with heavy sobs from every single cry and gasp. Every hit into the dirt, dust kicking up behind you, with every beat of your heart you were sure you were going to blind yourself on pure adrenaline. You gripped hard into Genji's shirt, buried your face against the silky fabric that fell off his shoulder exposing the seam of skin to metal and you tried to compose yourself as your legs shook with every bounce against the horse. 

It was so dark, aside from the moon lighting curling branches of trees that rustled as the horse rushed by them. Your mind was beginning to crash, the rush of the day, of holding yourself together and being on edge for far too long was finally catching up to you. The last time you slept was at Gabriel's side, not even a full night of sleep before you were pushing yourself to run through the thickets and unintentionally straight into Jesse's arms. 

"Genji, I know you have questions." You mumbled against his back. He slowed the horse to hear you and turned his ear down. "I'm so tired." 

"You look like you have had a hard day." He grabbed your arm where it wrapped at his waist and squeezed you gently. "It is alright. I will get us there safely." 

That was more than enough permission for you to finally allow your shoulders to drop and your body to give into its exhaustion. He held your arms in place, both as a comfort and a precaution as your mind drifted to a half sleep that allowed you rest you'd been denied for far too long. At night, the air was crisp and cold, even more so as the horse ran through the slightest breeze and left you shivering.

Your mind went in and out, picking up moments of hooves beating the earth or Genji holding you tightly if your arms were loosening on him. You were too tired to be worried about being followed, too scared to wonder if Hanzo and the woman with the yellow wings survived long enough to escape from Jesse and the witch. 

Your fingers were growing numb, mind drifting as you tried your best to sleep for as long as you could. The closer to the castle you knew you were getting, the chillier the air became. Winter lingered heavily over a forest slowly transitioning to one scarred with burns, when you did open your eyes you could see the clouds above were gathered for another snowstorm ready to drop at any given moment. Warm puffs of air would plume out in front of you, your breath hitting the cold leaving behind clouds that would quickly fall into the distance as you were roused from your sleep at the sight of burned trees. 

With a shaky sigh, your eyes turned to the sickeningly bright night sky where gray clouds moved against high winds far above. There was something else drifting through the air, something that flipped your stomach as you were left speechless. 

"What... is all this?" Genji asked quietly as the horse slowed. 

At first, what fell from the clouds looked like snow, but you could feel your heart sinking to the ground as Genji brought the steed to a stop and you stared over his shoulder at a crumbling castle surrounded by the purple pollen of the death blossom. Your eyes burned, from exhaustion, from the biting cold air, or crying, whatever it was, you blinked back dried tears and forced yourself to stay conscious as you looked straight to the bright windows far in the distance. Genji had his palm to the air the pollen would fall into his hand leaving behind a light powder. 

"It's pollen." You said, defeated as your cheek pressed to his back. "It's part of a terrible curse the witch cast upon the people who remained at the castle." 

"I am not going to like what we find in there, am I?" There was fear in his voice. 

"Was he cruel to you, Genji?" 

"King Reyes? No, curel is not the right word, I think."

"From the sounds of it, he was ruthless." You just wanted to know if Jesse was justified in his hatred, if the former king really was unworthy of the love you were so willing to give him.

"He was a good king, but he did have his problems. He was... not _unsupportive_ of my behavior when I had trouble controlling my anger. He would not stop me if I would fly into a rage or kill people as one of his knights." He paused before pushing out a long breath and squeezing gently at your arm. "I was a different man when I knew him. If what you are saying is true and he still lives within those walls, I am not sure anything could prepare me to confront the parts of myself I thought died with him. We did many bad things, I am... unsure of how I will react to seeing him once more." 

"I think he'll be shocked to see you too." You chewed at the corner of your lip before you thought to warn him of what his former king would look like. "For my sake, when you first lay eyes on him please don't reel in disgust or horror. He sees himself as a monster and he has lived a long time in fear thinkings others see him that way as well." 

"I will try my best." Genji nodded as he wiped his palm across his legs leaving behind a powdery stain of pollen. With a flick of his ankle, the horse began again, steadfast toward the castle and you couldn't take your eyes off it. 

You knew it wouldn't be for long, but the peace that washed over you simply from seeing the spires and the stones, from seeing _your home,_ it brought on a calm that you couldn't begin to put a name to. You found most of the snow had cleared from the path after a day of sun, but ahead the gates to the castle, once locked behind thorny vines had now been burst open waiting for your return.

Approaching the doors you were left with a deep unsettling, the pollen was thicker and thicker and yet there was a stillness that left you weak. Genji led the horse as close to the steps as he could get, riding until it came to an abrupt halt and he hopped off to help you from the horse. It was as he was lifting you, just before your feet touched the ground that you were struck with the permeating smell of death. 

Genji hesitantly grabbed his sword, holding it at his back as he carefully stepped behind you. 

"Gabriel!" You called out as you swung the doors open. "Siebren! Amélie?" 

Candles were left unlit, the only light you could see as you squinted into the darkness of a massive empty castle seemed to be coming far from down a hall leading towards the greenhouse where the pollen was drifting from. With a quick check over your shoulder, you caught eyes with Genji who paled and looked around the room letting his guard down overcome with the memories of once wandering the halls. You held the edges of the dress far above the floor as you sprinted down those dark halls, your feet sending off thuds that echoed on the walls all the way until you reached the light. 

"Olivia? Akande? Max-" You cut yourself off as you rounded into the light and found a scene you'd rather wished you hadn't.

Everyone was in the greenhouse, surrounding the flower which had once been encased in glass. Pollen was floating out of every opening, out the cracks in the ceiling, into the halls, completely circling around them as they stood and sat all facing the flower which was now in its full bloomed glory. The stench that radiated from it almost had you keeling over to lose the contents of your stomach. It was putrid, a terrible smell of rotting flesh and death left out for days coming from the flower instead of pleasant florals. Eyes turned to you, some surprised to see, others too disheartened to react. 

"Gabriel-" You breathed out as you locked eyes with his. He stood closest to the flower, fingers rubbing at the rubbery purple and green petal that hung heavy revealing the horrible whithering pistil. He wanted to smile at you, his heart clearly happy to see you back, but the reality of his curse being permanent was sinking in just as you appeared in the doorway. 

"We weren't expecting you back yet." His voice was shaking. "Did you find her?" 

"I did." You were frozen, your heart felt guilty. You were able to leave, by a fluke you had your own curse lifted and yet they were now staring at the embodiment of the permanence of their own. You stared down at the lace dress ruined with dirt and rips and lifted the skirt in his direction. "Although, Jesse McCree found me first." 

"King Reyes?" A small voice asked behind you.

Gabriel paused at the recognition of a familiar voice, his eyes growing wide before he turned away hiding his face in shame. Genji stepped around you, approaching Gabriel with a carefulness you were sure Gabriel believed he didn't deserve. You watched in silent awe as Genji simply looked upon his former commander, more out of curiosity than disgust. 

"It is an honor to be in your presence again, my liege." He closed his eyes and bowed his head, pressed a fist to his chest the same way you once saw Siebren do. 

"I am no king, there is no need to do that." Gabriel lifted his hands, taking Genji's in his before bringing him in for a tight hug. Gabriel's eyes were glossy, he avoided looking at you instead looking over the cyborg. "It's good to see you, my boy. You look like you've done well with yourself, far better than I have." 

"If I had known you were here all this time-" Genji began.

"Do not weigh that too heavily on yourself, this is a fate I did not intend anyone to see." Gabriel finally shifted his gaze to you, so longing and apologetic. He reached for you, offering his hand to lead you away from the horror of the greenhouse. "I think it's time we finish that talk." He sighed as you dropped your hand in his and started out the hall. He turned to the room, looking upon the faces of those who were lost for their purpose now that there was no hope of a binding curse being lifted. "Thank you for bringing her to me safely, Genji. I'd like you to stay here and brief everyone on what kind of trouble may be heading our way." 


	23. Too Gentle To Fight Back

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TRIGGER WARNING: There is **graphic violence** in this chapter. On top of the usual warning, especially right now, I want anyone reading to be prepared for that. If you are not in a mental state to handle this, please, I very much encourage you to hold off on reading for the time being.

The air in the castle was unnervingly still even as puffs of pollen floated silently through the halls. Gabriel led you out to the main entrance, he held you close with a hand cradling the back of your head and your face pressed to his chest, the room stayed dark apart from the front door cracked and moonlight shining in a sliver across the floor. 

"I'm sorry for the chilly greeting." He breathed out against the top of your head. "We all felt it about an hour ago. This strange feeling and even though we'd all gone to bed, somehow all of us woke up and ended up in the greenhouse. It's permanent. The witch's curse is irreversible regardless of..." 

He seemed to be entirely unsure of what to say as he traced your jaw with the backs of his fingers. Even in the dark, you could see the drifting of his eyes, the shame that weighed on him knowing all those lives, all those people who'd relied on him were now forced to stay within the bounds of the castle for the rest of their remaining days. There was conflict in his gaze, words he'd left unspoken for far too long that wouldn't have had any effect regardless while you were under Moira's curse. 

"It sounds silly, but it's almost like we're grieving. Mourning the loss of any fate other than the one we've been bound to." His thumbs stroked at your cheeks, wiping at nonexistent tears and his lips lifted into a small defeated smile. "I've been thinking about you coming back. Honestly, I did not think it would be so soon, but if I am going to be realistic I know you have a life outside of these walls. I can't in good conscious convince you to stay here, it would hurt my heart beyond it's already broken state to ask you to stay knowing I would be asking you to abide by the same curse that has fated us. You should go get your things, pack up everything you need, have Genji take you far from here where you can forget about the monster in the castle who tried to keep you here out of his own selfishness." 

"You are not selfish, Gabriel." Your hands gripped at the ruffling open neck of his shirt where it dipped low on his chest. "If you were selfish you would have thrown me over your shoulder the same way you did when I first came here, and I'd be in the dungeons by now." 

His strained silence became unbearable as the cracked front door swung open with a burst of wind and with it the beginnings of snowflakes fluttering in where pollen blew around the room. He tensed, his teeth clenched together and eyes darted to the movement as you felt the ends of sharp nails briefly dig into your skin. As he was focused on the swaying door, you looked at the red burning eyes across his cheek, over his neck and arms, they were all watching you, all waiting for you to make a break into the open. 

In the still of the moment, you pushed yourself to your toes, gripped at his collar and pressed your lips softly to the scars at his cheek where fangs rested exposed. 

"I love you, Gabriel." You breathed out as you kissed his scars again and felt him shake out a heavy sigh. "I know I'm too late, but I love you." 

"You can't love a monster." His eyes slowly shut, hiding wet corners building. He brushed you away, parting and hiding the hold in his cheek with morbid humiliation. "No one is capable of loving this, nor would I ask you to be subject to this horrible sight for the rest of your life." 

"I'll keep saying it until you believe me." You smiled with a sad laugh. "I love you. I love you. I _love_ you-" 

"There's no need for all that now." He was blushing, behind his hand you could see his face lifting with a smile and he studied you carefully for a few moments before he moved to bring you against him in another tight hug. He kissed at your hair and pressed his chin to the top of your head before asking quietly. "Are you positive it's love? I believe you, I do, but I do not want my hopes to be dashed-" 

"Without a doubt." You mumbled to his chest, your lips stealing little kisses against his exposed chest hair. "Don't doubt your ability to be loved. You're capable of it no matter what horrible ideas that witch had of you. The person you've become has proved time and time again to be someone who is kind. Someone who chooses what is right over their anger or their frustrations. I've watched you grow, Gabriel, but I can see that process started long before I ever arrived here. _I love you."_

"And I love you." He whispered through lips lifting in a relieved sob. "I do, truly I can't begin to tell you how freeing it is to finally say it. I am absolutely and unstoppably in love with you." 

"I'm with you, Gabriel. No matter what. If I have to travel to villages hours and hours away every day just to carry back food so everyone else doesn't starve, I will. I know I was too late to lift the curse, but I think of this place as my home and from here on out I will do whatever I need to help you and everyone else living within these walls. They may not be able to leave, but I will try to give them the best life I can. We can even start renovation another room of the west, the dining hall maybe-" 

He interrupted you with a kiss that swept you into him. Lips smiling and his hands shaking, he held you tightly, lifting you from your feet as he pressed you against him and spun you in his arms. It was dizzying, the kiss, the spin, the overwhelming crashing of understanding fully what it meant to love and be loved unconditionally, neither of you could stop smiling through the kiss that lasted until you were breathless. You could feel the snow drifting in with the wind through the open front door, hitting your skin and sending a shiver up your spine. 

"I must admit-" Gabriel laced his fingers with yours, he stepped apart and brought your arms up so he could take a good, long look at you. "This is not the white dress I would have imagined you in."

"Trust me, I didn't have a choice in it." You deadpanned as you looked down to the stained and ripped wedding dress limply pooling with a hem too long. 

"Did he hurt you?" Gabriel asked with a far more serious tone. 

"No more than roughhousing. He certainly didn't make me feel comfortable but he knows where the line is." 

"Well, at least he has some sort of decency left." He tsked as he rubbed his hand over his jaw where stubble had sprouted from a days worth of inattention. 

"He was so nice to me before. It was like a mask or something, I knew something was off but I just couldn't place it and I never would have guessed it was that he was so deep in his own fantasy of what a happy ending is that he was willing to do _anything_ for it." You sighed and pushed the knuckles of your fingers to the corner of your tired eyes. "He's lost, Gabriel. He thinks he only way he'll ever be able to have what he wants is to have the life you did, the power, the women, the magic. It's some sort of sick, twisted idolization of you when you were a king." 

"I should have seen it coming. He's always had an eye for power." 

"He also told me what you made him do to choose him from Morrison's prison." You sucked at the corner of your lips, guilty that you broke the good mood. "I don't want to believe you asked him to do what you did, but he just hates you so much that I can't help but think he's telling the truth." 

"Did he tell you I made him fight to the death in order to be my right hand?" He asked with a stern expression. You nodded, slowly. "I won't lie to you. I did. The damage I caused him, the pain and fear I put into someone who was only a child- I can only wish time would allow me to right those wrongs. I hurt Jesse in unimaginable ways, and I believed his revenge was thinking of me murdered by my most trusted friend. From what I understand now however, his actions reflect more on selfishness than they do on revenge." 

"Genji's brother and a woman with these huge glowing yellow wings protected us in the village as we ran away from him and the witch. I noticed when we arrived the barriers were down, if he decides to attack, is there anything stopping him?" 

"Defenses are down after much of everyone's magic was depleted from the ball, it may be a few days before they're back to their full strength." He paused to the run the backs of his fingers over the lace covering your arm. "It is nice to see Genji here, he has protected me from some of the worst attacks ever attempted on this castle. If either of them decides to show their faces here, they will be met with the wrath of people who will not hold back." 

Towering before you, Gabriel's gaze as he brushed his fingers against your cheek and over around to the back of your head you could see the determination in his eyes. 

"I will not allow anything to tear our family apart." He whispered before kissing you softly on your forehead. 

"Sir?" A voice drifted in through the darkness, Genji's tone hesitant to interrupt. "We have agreed to patrol rounds for the evening, they are going to set me up in a guest room on the second floor so I can sleep before my round. You two should get some rest, we will keep an eye out for you." 

Gabriel must have seen how exhausted you were, his hand fell to yours and after an agreeance with Genji, he began to lead you into the echoing chambers of the west wing. Every step sent aches shooting up your legs, from a day worth of walking, hours worth of riding, from the intense clenching at your shoulders, your body felt as if it was going to fall out beneath you before you'd make it up even one more flight of stairs. Gabriel glanced behind him as you were dragging your feet and flashed you a look of concern when you sighed deeply and grimaced at lifting your leg up another step. 

He wordlessly slid his hand over your back, fingers tracing your spine until he bent at your side and all at once with his powerful strength he lifted you into a cradle. You wanted to protest, to beg him to let you walk to his room but his arms, your head resting against his chest, it was all far too comfortable. The lace of a ruined dress fell in cascades from your legs, swaying around as he brought you further and further up into the twisting staircase of his tower.

Your mind began to drift, finally allowing you to relax to a point of thoughtlessness just as he reached his bedroom. His curtains had been left open, his window which looked down the balcony of your room on the other side of the castle frosted over as a flurry of snow silently lit the night sky with brilliant white flakes.

"Would you get this horrible thing off me?" You mumbled as he laid you to his bed. He chuckled as you rolled heavily to your side and faced the row of buttons in the back to him. "Then burn it?" 

"Of course, my love." His hands began to free you from the dress and you breathed out a deep sigh with the weight of it being pulled from you. The scratch of the fabric was quickly replaced with the soft touch of wandering hands. "I'll have Siebren take a look at some of these injuries tomorrow, for now, get some sleep." 

His fingers rested beneath heavy bruising where Jesse had tied your hands. Even in the dark, you could see you'd been knicked a few times from the clockface in the village bursting but you'd been too focused to try and feel your own pain. Laying between Gabriel's sheets you were then all too aware of the skin rubbed raw between your thighs where a saddle brushed against it for hours and the feeling of ankles swelling overused now that adrenaline had fully flushed from your body. Your eyes fluttered closed, lips too tired to even say goodnight as you slipped away to the soothing motions of Gabriel gently massaging knuckles to your lower back. 

* * *

Cozy and deeply asleep, you almost slept through the harsh jerk of the mattress as you felt Gabriel leaving the bed. Still almost asleep, you lifted your head even as it pounded from a deep sleep and forced yourself to crack open an eye. 

Fear instantly raced through your veins, your heart sank to your stomach as you saw the aggravated look on his face and way he was frantically lacing up pants as his burning red eyes all across his body fixated on the door. His look darted to you before he lifted a quick finger to his lips in an attempt to tell you to stay silent. 

"There's someone in the west wing." He glared over your shoulder. "Stay here, lock the door behind me and don't come out for any reason, do you understand me?" 

"Gabriel-" You were certainly awake, although your voice cracked as you spoke and moved the throw the blankets from your body. 

"Promise me you'll stay in here, no matter what you hear." He stared at you with this harsh longing look that you felt within the pit of your soul. "Promise me." 

"Okay." You spoke after a beat, your voice soft. "Okay, I'll stay here." 

He nodded and sprinted, light on his feet out the door as you followed and shut it carefully behind him. The snap of the lock into place left you feeling hollow, as if the sheer noise of it was bouncing around inside your body for ages until you moved to the window and cracked it open hoping to hear anything that would prove there was no true danger. 

In your mind, you tried to tell yourself that it must have been Genji. Perhaps, after not having been in the castle for years he would wander into the ruins of the wing he once lived in and find floors destroyed and left to rot. Maybe Gabriel just didn't recognize his footsteps, or even the noises he heard that woke him from sleep may have been part of the castle crumbling and Gabriel was just on edge. The chill of a long winter morning bit at your skin and you held your breath as you searched for anything you could to wear just in case. His cabinet door was left open just slightly, you searched through his hanging clothes until you spotted familiar clothes folded and tucked away in the back. 

Much to your surprise, you found the very clothes you wore the day you arrive in the castle. They'd been properly cleaned and pressed, the holes that once tore through as you ran between thorny vines now fixed with artfully detailed sewing- although there was a point where it appeared he'd gone off course from repairing and had been lost in his own mind as he was working. You checked at the window once more, straining to listen only to hear wind blowing over the dark forest below, and you climbed into your own clothes once more. 

Gusts of wind would push snow into his bedroom but it was the beating of your heart and the biting cold that was keeping you awake as you stood there with nails digging into the wood frame.

It was nothing, it had to be nothing.

He was just overreacting, too afraid to lose you as soon as he had you again.

Protecting his own, even the smallest noise could be the biggest danger so it make sense that he would feel the need to check on it. 

You stood there feeling nauseous thinking about all the possibilities, you stared through the falling snow down the edge of the castle walls and you caught a glimpse of something moving between trees just off the road leading to the front doors. Squinting and trying your best, you tried to make out just what it was as it looked far too large to be a man. 

It moved in an annoyed fashion, trying to jerk away from a tree trunk. Shrouded in the shadow of large branches covered in a night's worth of snow you knew you wouldn't be able to tell what it was until it made a noise completely giving itself away. The trilling of a horse trying to keep itself occupied sent your blood running cold as you realized someone had followed you to the castle and tied their horse away from the entrance intending to not be seen. You wanted to scream, wanted to burst from the door and run down the stairs to warn Gabriel but instead, you slapped your hand over your mouth and chose to be silent knowing if you did, you may ruin his chance at catching whoever was rooting around in the west wing. 

It felt like far too long that you heard nothing, but as soon as you did begin to hear things you instantly wished it had just stayed silent.

Men screaming.

Thuds and shattering far from floors below. 

You held it together until you heard the first gunshot. Your heart knew, without a doubt you could feel that somewhere below the relentless Jesse McCree had come to finish his former king off and take you as his prize. After the first shot you heard a window burst, tears fell down your cheeks as you peeked out the window and wiped sweating palms on the front of your shirt. Out the window you saw Jesse's Peace Maker, his gun flew through the flakes until it landed with a dull crunch into previously untouched snow. With the window broken you could hear them clearly, blows were being landed but Gabriel was begging his former knight. 

"Stop it, Jesse! I refuse to hurt you, just speak to me like a man!" There was burning anger in his voice, it boomed as he spoke. 

"What's the problem, Reyes? Love made you too kind, too gentle to fight back? You're afraid of what your precious woman will think of you if you show her who you _truly_ are?" Jesse was smiling, you could _hear_ it. "Didn't realize one small curse would make you a coward. King Reyes would never act like this-"

"I no longer claim that title." Gabriel snapped back with a hissing growl. "If you had a heart you would be able to see that change is possible-" 

"Monsters don't change!" Jesse screamed back. 

Fear prevented you from outright sobbing. Somewhere below they were struggling against one another, you strained to stare down at the windows below only to be frightened as two figures falling from the broken window. Panic shot to your heart as you watched Jesse clawed at Gabriel's face and a knife buried in his shoulder force Gabriel to take the brunt of the landing- luckily the snow gave at least a small relief the fall but their bodies skidded to the ground and Gabriel let out a lengthy pained groan. Finding his opportunity to strike, Jesse beat his fist just out of your sight but you could hear the stomach turning sounds of his hits landing against Gabriel's face. 

"Enough, Jesse!" Gabriel growled out, there was a fog to his voice but he wrapped tight hands around Jesse's fists and held them out into the air preventing him from hitting him anymore. 

"Fight me you fuckin' coward!" He bellowed, body shaking as he tried to fight his way out of Gabriel's strong grip. "You've never had a problem killin' before! Why am I the exception?!" 

Quick to get Jesse away, Gabriel pushed Jesse higher into the air, enough to get his feet beneath him and press the bottom of his boots to Jesse's chest. Using the strength of both legs he kicked Jesse back, sending him far off into the yard to piles of snow where Jesse struggled to land without falling to his knees. Partially obscured by the snow falling, you could still see the deranged look in his eyes, that cocky half smile that once charmed you now seemed to be only deadly as he pushed his hand through his hair out of his face and curled a fist ready to attack Gabriel once more. 

There was a movement in the broken window where they'd fallen from that caught your eye. As Jesse rushed at Gabriel the sounds of metal whizzed through the air and Jesse let out a lengthy scream as shuriken ripped at his shoulder. Genji had no hesitation in leaping from the window to join his former king at his side and fight back against someone he once considered a close friend.

You had to get down there, you knew you would feel unfathomable guilt if you didn't _do_ something. 

So you unlocked the door and you ran. Practically skipping steps down the flights of stairs, you came to a screeching halt as you found the entrance to the castle with doors wide open and a body sprawled across the ground. 

He couldn't have been there for long, but that didn't stop your heart from dropping in your throat. 

You knew true horror and your heart couldn't take much more. 

As if seeing Maximilien transform wasn't bad enough, he now laid unconscious across the floor of the entrance hall. He'd been attacked from behind, his shiny black hair was slick with blood seeping into the stone. You fell to your knees, shook as you rushed to rip the sleeve of his shirt and pressed the fabric to his head and felt it soaking through only to let out a dry sob as his eyes drearily fluttered open. 

"It's-" He was struggling to find his words. "The boy, it's the boy, Reyes's right hand-" 

"I know." You shushed him and tried to put more pressure without it causing him agony. "They're outside, can you remember if the witch was with him?" 

"No, he was-" He hissed a sharp breath. At the top of the stairs, you caught Siebren rushing toward you. "Alone, I think."

"I heard a gunshot!" Siebren was still in his sleeping clothes, his eyes bewildered as he found you above Maximilien. 

"I don't know what to do-" You sobbed overwhelmed with the need to protect everyone within the walls. "They're fighting outside, Jesse McCree and Gabriel, but I don't know where anyone else is!" 

"Akande is still upstairs and should be down here any second, neither Olivia nor Amélie were in their rooms or bathing. The one that showed up last night, Genji, he ran for the west wing. Leave Maximilien to me, go, check the rooms down here! I'll send Akande to help outside!" Siebren seemed to be immediately in survival mode. He replaced you on the floor next to Maximilien and weak magic went to work at the wound on his skull. You blindly ran from room to room, calling for either woman hoping you'd simply find them cowering together. From the dining room, where plates were still messily strewed across the table left uncleaned after a lovely night, to the cold and dark kitchen which hadn't seen laughter in days. You ran through the offices, through destroyed galleries and rooms you'd never even seen before until you came across the sitting room with the massive fireplace where only a few embers remained of a fire that must have been started the night before and laying on the rug before you was a broken and gagged body.

"Fuck, oh no-" At first your mind told you no body should be twisted in such a way, that it was unnatural, there was no way she was _alive_. Olivia looked terrible as she barely lifted her head and locked eyes with you making your heart jump. "I found Olivia! I need help!" You screamed into the hall hoping someone could come. "No, no, no, what happened to you?"

You kneeled next to her, brows stitched together as you held back tears you knew you could not allow yourself to be blinded by. Her eyes were bloodshot, she herself had been crying unable to be heard through a rag drenched in something and shoved between her teeth. It appeared that Jesse had used his own belt to tighten it around her head and keep the gag in place. You apologized as you undid the loop and tried not to stare at the way her hands were turning blue and the broken crooked fingers that couldn't move. Just as you removed the cloth from her mouth and she began to cough as she took in deep heavy breaths, Akande appeared at the doorway to help you. 

"Have you found Amélie?" She gasped out. "She was on patrol outside- I heard the door-" A coughing fit prevented her from speaking as Akande carefully lifted her arms and studied the broken bones in her hand. "I- thought it was her coming in. Fucking McCree, snuck up on me. Knocked me out first cause he knew he couldn't take me one and one and broke my fucking legs and hands!" 

"I'll go look for Amélie-" You breathed out, leaving Akande to tend to Olivia and she rightfully ranted and raved in her excruciating pain. 

As you rushed out, past Siebren still bent over and trying his best to mend the damage Jesse had done, you felt as if you were experiencing the world in tunnel vision. All you heard was your own panting breath and the beating of your heart in your ears as you flung open the front door and frantically began looking for Amélie. The echos of Jesse and Gabriel fighting were now surrounding you as their voices and punches bounced off the castle walls and echoed into the forests. You tried to think of the patrol route Gabriel used to walk through the yard, sure you'd find Amélie somewhere along it- 

You didn't have to look far. 

Against the wall and covered in a thin blanket of snow, you spotted her propped up against one of the ruined fountains, eyes hazy and slowly following you as you rushed toward her. She had her arms and legs bound together, the rope connecting them together preventing her from standing, and seemed to have a torn piece of Jesse's shall shoved between her teeth silencing her where rope stopped it from being spit out. 

"Amélie, Amélie-" You gasped out as you began to brush the snow from her body. His knot tying skills were far above yours, you wished you still had your knife on you that Akande gave but you knew it was still sitting in a satchel somewhere with Jesse's belongings. As it loosened you found her cheeks had been burned and bloodied by the rope, she'd clearly been trying to scream and only stopped when she realized no one could hear her. "Did he hurt you?" 

"If he did, I do not feel it." She admitted with a hoarse voice. Her eyes turned down, a deep sadness welling in them. "He recognized me as Gérard's wife, he even apologized for having to do this to me." 

Although she could not physically feel the pain of it, she shook as you undid the ropes and helped her to her feet. 

"You should get inside with everyone else, they may need your help with Olivia and Maximilien." You told her as you began to turn towards the sounds of Gabriel and Jesse fighting. 

"Please tell me you do not plan to get in the middle of that." She begged and reached out for you. "It's too dangerous-" 

"I can't just watch them kill each other!" You called over your shoulder as your breath huffed out in the air around you.

Snow crunched beneath your feet and you ran as fast as you could around the edge of the castle. It was too cold to be out in the clothes you were, to not be wearing shoes, but that didn't matter when you could hear Jesse telling Gabriel and Genji that he was going to bury them both. 

Rounding the corner you found a horrible scene. Much of the snow was splattered with bright red blood, Gabriel was standing in front of Genji with a hand pressed to the cyborg's chest and a snarl across his lips. He was stopping Genji from attacking, trying everything in his power to calm Jesse enough to actually talk. One of Genji's arms was limp, he'd been sliced through the armor and similarly behind the knee of the opposite leg which he wasn't putting weight on. All of the red eyes across Gabriel's body that were visible snapped to you, he felt you there but refused to turn and look as he kept Jesse's gaze. 

"You have every right to be angry with me Jesse." He spoke through gritted teeth. "I have made you suffer in unimaginable ways, you and Genji both. I asked far too much of you. I don't want your forgiveness, I only ask for your mercy. I can never leave this place, I can never harm anyone nor do I wish to. I'm sorry, truly I am. You deserved a far better life than I gave you, but you can't take that life by force. Power with blood on your hands, love by chains, magic at the cost of a witch's curse, 2it will only lead to your own destruction."

"Don't you lecture me." Jesse snarled. He'd managed to get his gun back, held at eye level and pointed directly at Gabriel, he breathed in a sudden smile as he caught you standing off to the side. Even worse, you could see in his other hand he held Genji's sword. "Well, look who just couldn't stay away from me." 

"This isn't about her, Jesse." Gabriel was trying his best not to look at you, but those eyes of his betrayed him. His skin was riddled with growing bruising and red staining his shirt.

"You wanna know somethin' that will really make you proud of me, Reyes? Since I've been away from you I haven't missed a single shot, oh you used to get so _angry_ when I missed didn't you?" Jesse's smile was disgustingly sinister. "I want you to take a wild guess at how many bullets I have left in the chamber."

"I've always been proud of Jesse, I thought of you as my family, I trusted you completely-" 

"Two." He barked. "I've got two left. If I fan 'em out, who will you try to save? Someone who's always been loyal to you, even after he thought you were dead, or the woman who made you soft?" 

"Don't joke, Jesse." 

"I ain't jokin'." 

The serious expression on his face fell to a cold anger that told you a trigger was just moments away. Out of pure fear, you turned to Gabriel and in the moment you locked eyes with his, two shots rang out. In the sheer moments, before bullets met skin, there was confusion. Genji forced his way in front of his former king willing to take a bullet for him, but Gabriel tried to push him out of the line of fire and dove in front of you at the last second. 

You heard both bullets hit bodies, Genji first with a hard grunt that tore away at the machinery of his core and then Gabriel with the horrific scream and you knew, there was nothing to doubt, you _knew_ he'd been hit somewhere bad. After he was hit, his body crashed into yours and sent you into the snow with his shoulders pinning your legs to the ground. A clawed hand clutched at his abdomen, just around his waist and all at once for him breathing became a hefty task.

You stayed there for a moment, in the silence that settled, with snow slowly falling down onto your nose and your lips and you felt the slight twinge of numbness. Part of you was almost too afraid to look, you wished beyond anything in your life that the warmth you felt spreading across your legs was not the bleeding of an exit wound, but from the corner of your eye you could see the massive red stain that was growing beneath him. 

"Gabriel?" You whispered with strained lips. 

"It's okay." He tried to say but the way he spoke was forced and out of breath.

You could hear Jesse getting closer, the movements of spurs bouncing as he stepped but you couldn't bring yourself to move. Your worried eyes shifted to Genji, motionless and a hole visible having ripped through an omnic center. You blindly reached down, searching for Gabriel only to feel the curve of his shoulder. Unable to comfort him in any other way, you squeezed him and tried to hold as tight as you could.

"I love you." Your voice shook as Jesse's boots came into view through the snow in the corner of your eye. You lifted your head, finally brave enough to set your gaze on him. "Please, Gabriel I love you-

His skin had paled from its usual color, all his monstrous eyes now rested, reserving energy to focus on keeping him alive. The front of his shirt was soaked with crimson blood, his hand weakly curled where he'd been hit and his eyes glossed over as he stared back at you in a twisted angle. Jesse grunted as he kelt into the snow, he hooked his arms beneath yours and pulled you from beneath the massive form the former king as if he was some sort of prince saving you from a crushing force.

"Gabriel-" You cried.

"You won't need to worry about anymore. He won't have another chance to hurt you." Jesse cooed and held you up at his side. 

"Don't- don't worry-" Gabriel coughed as blood bubbled from the corner of his lips and smiled at you. "I'll be- be alright." 

From the looks of him, that was more than difficult to believe. With every strained breath you could hear the blood blocking his airways, bright red slowly began to pool beneath his body as it leaked between his sharp teeth and over his jaw to the pristine snow beneath. Jesse tsk'd and roughly turned you before throwing you over his shoulder, his hand firmly where it had no business being. 

You were numb. 

Cold, scared. 

Helpless. 

Gabriel's blood was still warm as it froze to the fabric of your pants. Jesse made sure to check over his shoulder as he ran with you, constantly looking over his shoulder to the front door where inside you knew the others were being tended to. 

He brought you straight to his horse. Tied to the saddlebag was your own satchel and inside, you assumed, the very weapon you'd been wondering about earlier in the day. He situated you in front of him, placed you within his arms and against his body so he could hold you in place if you tried to leave. 

"Are you goin' to be a good girl for me, or are you goin' to run?" He asked as he pulled rope from a pocket. 

"You won, Jesse." You were shaking, he nodded with a triumphant smirk and saddled up behind you. In your mind, you were already trying to find a way out, even if it meant a greater patience. You knew his plan- maybe king Morrison would help you if you revealed Jesse's plan early enough. 

With a hearty flick of the reigns, you were off on the horse and one of his arms stayed curled at your core. You closed your eyes and tried to block out his whispers. He was going on and on about how he was going to give you the life you deserved, that Reyes would have only ever ruined you, that he would have put you in an early grave. In your silence, you were seething. Your thoughts and emotions contained as you formulated a plan growing angrier with every beat of hooves against the dirt. His metal arm was curled around your midsection tightly, holding you to him ensuring you wouldn't slip away.

Resigned to trick him in order to get away, you turned over your shoulder and tried to meet his cold gaze. 

"Thank you for saving me." You spoke flatly. He smiled as if you'd just expressed your love to him.

"From here on out, I'll always be by your side."

He had no idea what terror that brought upon you. Through the forest, through the snow and the howling of creatures threatening, he held you tight to him as you plotted. Down the main road, then to a turn you'd never taken where the storm began to ease. 

It had to have been an hour or so before the opportunity presented itself. 

"You're shiverin', are you cold?" Jesse asked with his lips far too close to your ear. 

You paused for a moment, almost saying no so he would shut his mouth again, but you knew he thought of himself as a gentleman and gentlemen would give up their own to make a lady comfortable. 

"I don't want to be a bother." You slyly teased. 

"It's no bother at all, here-" He slowed the horse, stopping to slide off the back and pull the torn red shawl from his shoulders. 

That was it.

A chance that you weren't willing to spare, you took the gamble and made a frantic jump for your bag on the saddle immediately reaching for the blade within. In the briefest moment you had to strike, you unsheathed the blade and let your arm swing as hard as it could in an arch at his neck. 

The noise is something that would stick with you for the rest of your life. The surprise of a blade slipping through skin and crushing through muscle, the sounds of veins ripping as you entered at a terribly awkward angle. At first he looked at you with a warm smile, but it quickly fell as the feeling of shock overtook him. He opened his mouth, an attempt to speak that left him silent blood fell over his tongue and down across the front of his shirt instead. 

"Why?" He gurgled as you twisted it and tears began to fall across your cheeks. 

His body attempted to lunge at you, with arms weakly lifting in an attempt to grab your shoulders, you dodged easily only for him to fall face first against the saddle of the horse. 

The air that pushed from your lips was unlike anything you'd experienced, it caught and sobbed, it threatened to empty your stomach, you were entirely numb and overwhelmingly sick at the same time. 

"I'm so sorry Jesse." You cried as you fell to your knees and buried your face to the snow with nails digging at the back of your hair. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, fuck I'm so sorry-"

His body thudded from the horse to the ground, knees finally giving out beneath him and he weakly wrapped his hand around the handle of the knife. You turned back to stare at the ground.

There was far too much pain.

Too much blood.

Too many broken bones.

Too much death. 

Holding yourself responsible for a life, regardless of how awful someone was, it didn't feel right. 

All you could do was stay curled over yourself against the snow. The smell of blood surrounded you. Gabriel's blood, Jesse's blood. 

You were going to be sick.

Your head hurt.

Your stomach hurt.

Nothing but blood.

Blood. 

B l o o d. 

B 

L 

O

O

D.

You wanted to be as numb as you were when Gabriel ran his hands across your body. Your heart ached thinking about him. You couldn't move. You wanted to go back to sleep. 

* * *

Your eyes hurt, burned after crying far too much from simply burying yourself beneath your elbows. You couldn't move, couldn't bring yourself to lift your head and look at Jesse's unmoving body which laid at your side long after the horse was spooked and took to the road. 

After far too long, minutes or hours, you don't know but there was a layer of snow beginning to bury you, outside of your arms covering your face you began to see the yellow glow of familiar wings. Two voices spoke softly but you couldn't focus enough to listen to their words. They were speaking carefully, their steps light against the snow as they surrounded you. Thinking it still must have somehow been one of Jesse's tricks, that it may have been the witch coming back to haunt you, you stayed curling in a ball hoping the entire day was nothing but a terrible nightmare. 

"Whatever happened here-" Hanzo, his voice was so recognizable and far too close to Genji's. His hand rested on your back, against your spine, another on your arm, not trying to remove you from your position, rather comforting you in a small way. "Do not blame yourself." 


	24. The End

Gabriel Reyes woke to a white curtain curled around the infirmary bed he was tucked in. His body ached beyond belief, muscles sore from being left to lay in bed for what felt like an eternity, his injury where he’d been shot pulsing a dull pain as he moved and stretched awake. Twisting in the bed, the surprise of hair falling around his shoulders drew him back, he lifted the ends of it between his fingers and stared with furrowed brows as he wondered just how long he’d been out in his half-awake state. His facial hair had grown too, it curled uncomfortably around the hole in his cheek, he grimaced as he ran a stiff hand over his face and felt a beard which replaced his usually neatly trimmed goatee. 

"What is this?" He asked aloud, assuming someone would respond from the other side of the curtain. 

He was met with empty echoing silence that left a pit in his stomach. 

A moment of confusion quickly became panic as every memory of the day in the snow came rushing back to him. Memories of being unable to move, of being horribly numb as he watched his former right-hand drag you away in the blur of the flurry. He let out a frantic grunt when he sat up and felt the blankets fall from his chest revealing thick gauze wrapped at his waist. Beneath it, he could feel the wound, the emptiness of being shot and the far too familiar pain of his body regenerating every nerve and string of muscle slowly. 

Breathing was a task in itself, he found. If he closed his eyes and really focused, he could feel that when he was hit by Jesse’s bullet it buried at the base of his lungs. Every shaky gasp for air was a reminder of his mouth filling with blood and his eyes glossing over as he lost sight of you.

Even though it was painful, he forced himself to grab the edge of the white curtain and drag it open. It was no surprise to him that he was alone, but he was taken aback by how well kept the infirmary looked- once left in a destroyed state, it appeared as if the entire household had pitched in to return the room to a pristine condition. The shelves were even stocked with supplies, ones he knew would take at least a days trip to get and would be far too much for one person to carry. Other beds were made and ready waiting for someone to rest in them with their white curtains pinned back, the window had been cleaned and cracked open. 

The eyes across his skin peeked open, many of them blinking and taking in the room just as he was. Someone, or many someones, had put in a lot of care to make sure the infirmary was well taken care of and he needed answers. 

With fingers clawed to his core, Gabriel began to stand on his own and found his knees were weak and shaking. There were voices just outside the closed doors, murmuring conversations drifting from the distant halls that his senses were picking up faintly. Leaning heavily against the edge of the door, he poked his head out and found the castle had a strange air to it- something felt lighter than it had been, like a weight on his chest that had been pulling him down for years was no longer chained to him. His legs were shaky as he walked, there were even a few moments where his heart would jump thinking his knees would give out beneath him, but he found it easier to brace himself along the wall as he made his way. 

With careful steps, he made it all the way to the entrance hall before he finally caught a glimpse of a man, half cyborg and draped in the colors of Gabriel's former kingdom. The floor to ceiling columns were wrapped in cascades of flowers, banners once ripped and bloodstained were now sewen together and hanging proudly. 

"Reyes!" Genji breathed out as his immediate reaction was to clasp his hand to his chest and he leaned forward in a deep bow. 

"You're alive-" Gabriel gasped as he grabbed Genji in a harsh pull and forced him into a tight hug. Being vulnerable, being thankful and willing to show the kind of affection he felt didn't come easy, but his core gripped with terrible guilt with the image of Genji laying motionless in the snow. "I thought you'd been shot?" 

"I was, sir." There was a shakiness in Genji's voice. "His shot ripped through many of my internal tubings, but Angela's spell had a failsafe to ensure if I was ever injured the ends would close off. I was very lucky he did not hit my heart, had he been in aiming in a right state of mind he would not have missed. My injury was nowhere near as fateful as yours, how are you feeling my liege? You've been recovering for almost seven months now."

"Seven- seven _months?"_ Gabriel stepped back and ran his fingers through the base of his hair. "Seven months?! Why would I have been out for seven months, I was only down for a few weeks the first time I-"

"I should go get Angela-" He sputtered out and turned toward the hall. "You shouldn't move too much, stay here, I'll be right back!" 

Genji's footsteps pattered away as Gabriel was left to lean heavily against one of the columns as he felt the wind leave his lungs. Seven months. The first thing that pounded at the front of his brain was you, the castle seemed to be in a sense of peace but if you were here wouldn't you be at his side? The only conclusion he could come to was Jesse had taken you far from him, that everyone had given up faith in ever seeing you again. 

What was that feeling that was overtaking him? Guilt, maybe. It hurt and sank claws deep within his heart, he was so happy, he was finally _so happy_ and you were ripped away from him in the cruelest fashion.

While his mind was spinning, he became faintly aware of the front door opening wide followed with a familiar gasp. 

"Gabriel! Look at you, we did not expect to see you up for another month!" Amélie’s face lifted to a gentle smile as he met her eyes. She twisted her expression in concern and placed a hand on the exposed skin of his arm. "I am so thankful to see you awake. I have something to show you, something I think will make you very happy." 

"I have so many questions-"

"I know, but you need to see this first." She let her hand fall to gently clasp his before she pulled him toward the entrance. “Come, come, come-”

Amélie looked so excited, far more excited than she had in years with this bright expression across her eyes. She pulled him through the front doors, then encouraged him more and more as they made their way to the gates of the castle, even allowing him to rest an arm across her shoulders for support when he became too overwhelmed with lightheadedness. 

“What-?” Gabriel looked at the courtyard in awe. 

The fountains were fixed, grasses surrounding had grown in beautifully and been trimmed, flowers replanted, stones in pathways between trees now repaired- it was all the work he’d been telling himself he was going to do for years completed. There were people he’d never seen before, strangers working around pulling weeds and nailing in repairs to broken fences. Across the yard in stables which had been left empty and overgrown were now horses and teams of people busy at work repairing what he could only place as a royal carriage. He was already overwhelmed with so many questions, but she continued right past them bounding toward the open gates without him. 

“Watch!” Amélie began to run from him, picking up her speed before she finally jumped with a dancer’s leap over the threshold and out to the road beyond the barrier that had kept them in for so long. 

She was laughing with disbelieving glee, her long hair falling wild across her face as she pushed it back and opened her arms to spin with a heaving sigh. 

“You can leave?” Gabriel asked, unable to comprehend seeing her beyond the gates. A second dawning hit him directly in the chest, if they could leave but she was still here, that meant Amélie was _choosing_ to stay. She was looking at him so kindly, giving him time to sort out his thoughts but nothing seemed to be piecing together. “I- I don’t understand.” 

“We are no longer bound by your curse, Gabriel." She stopped in front of him, her cold hands reached out and grabbed his before lifting them to happily curl her fingers around him. 

"But, we were too late, I told her I loved her too late-" 

"We found another way." She smile was pained as she looked over his shoulder and waved someone over. "It took quite some time, and a decent amount of help, but we broke the witch's curse." 

"But-" Gabriel looked down at his arms, at the awful red eyes that stared right back at him, at the scars that covered his body and the gauze which held him together. Those eyes of his snapped to the movement behind him, at the back of his mind he was aware of Genji and Angela approaching. "I'm still... like this." 

"King Reyes." Angela spoke softly. He kept his shoulder turned, unsure if he should feel thankful or afraid of her presence. "You must still be feeling faint, you should come back inside-" 

"I need an explanation, immediately." He lashed out with an anger he'd worked so hard to repress. "What the hell happened after Jesse attacked us? Who are these damn strangers?! Why is everything so-"

"We should start from the day Jesse attacked." Amélie motioned toward a spot near the wall. Gabriel understood and leaned against it, allowing his aching body to rest as they stood around him. "He attacked some of us before he went after you, I was the first and I was tied, unable to warn anyone. He kept out of the sight of windows as he made his way to the front door and as soon as he was inside he found Maximilien who was coming to relieve me from watch duties. He doesn't know what he was hit with, he guessed it must have been the butt of Jesse's gun, he lost consciousness and it made him bleed pretty heavily. He found Olivia and broke both her legs, and her hands, Gabriel it was terrible. We thought that would be the worst of it, but then we found you and Genji out in the snow." 

"Are they alright?" Gabriel interrupted with fear. 

"Olivia has recovered alright, with Siebren and Angela's help. Maximilien, well-" She paused to chew at the corner of her lips. "He is still recovering. For the most part he is doing alright, but he has some trouble with his memory and has been becoming easily confused at times when he thinks he is still an omnic." 

"That's terrible." He sighed as he held a hand over his heart. "Alive and uncursed, but can't escape from any of this. I'm going to ensure Jesse pays for this, he took the love of my life from me, attacked my family like a coward instead of coming straight to me." 

"You should really sit down." Angela placed a hand on Gabriel's shoulder and gently pushed him to fall along the wall. 

There, with his pants to the dirt, Angela explained how she found you hunched over on the side of the road motionless beneath the falling snow as a pool of blood spread beneath the very man who took you from him. Angela spoke gently, hoping not to upset him as she described the way you shook and begged her to help everyone trapped at the castle. Gabriel felt nauseous, he could feel how terrified you must have been, he knew as a gentle soul, someone who'd seen far too much already and should have never been subjected to the terrible life following him brought about. Blame rested heavy on his shoulders, if only he'd been faster, if only he'd heard Jesse sooner, or checked the windows, if only he'd been a better person before a curse fell upon him. 

He listened with a hand over his mouth, his heart beating harder and harder in his chest as they spoke. Genji took a seat next to him, sat at Gabriel's right side. 

"That night, as soon as she knew everyone was stable, you should have seen her Gabriel. Siebren and Angela were busy trying to stabilize everyone, but she was thinking ahead because she knew Moira was still out there somewhere. Already weak and without any defenses, she insisted I take her to see king Morrison, refused to eat or sleep, we set out right then and I took her straight to his castle. The only reason they did not throw her in the dungeon when she stormed into his throne room was because I was with her. King Morrison did not believe what she was saying, she tried to warn them of Moira's plans. She begged and told him over and over that you were a good man who deserved love and forgiveness. In some ways it was almost hard to watch, because he was convinced we were deceiving him, but some of his knights took pity and offered to at least escort us back to the castle." 

"I never wanted my burden to become her responsibility." Gabriel breathed out. Picturing you in Jack's throne room, pleading for help from the man who drove a sword through Gabriel's chest was unnerving. "I would never wish for her to humiliate herself on my behalf." 

"True love drives people to do whatever it may take to endure." Genji turned with a small smile. "She fought until king Morrison could clearly see the threat Moira held over the kingdom, she fought to ensure this castle would be protected, and with her insistence, Angela worked with some of the greatest minds among magic users to find a way of lifting your curse." 

"It took quite some time to put together." Angela knelt into the dirt in front of Gabriel. "We had to wait for Olivia's injuries to fully heal, for ingredients that only bloomed during the spring. It took the help of many people, including king Morrison who ended up drawing vials of his own blood for it, there were many times we were going to give up but she kept pushing us because she didn't want to give up on you." 

"My people are free but I am still a monster." He stared down at his hands solemnly. 

"Our spell to break the curse was strong, but you were still deep in recovery. You died for a second time, Gabriel, this is something not many people can say they've done. If we were to lift the curse on your body it would have stopped the regeneration process and we had no way of telling how far along you were. Unfortunately, there is no way for us to reverse the physical aspects of it, I'm afraid." Angela had this stern tone to her voice that made Gabriel lock eyes with her. "But I want to be very clear with you, no one sees you as a monster."

With that, Angela offered a hand and stood. Her bright yellow wings spread out behind her as she pulled Gabriel from the ground. His mind was still catching up to his ears, he couldn't have possibly heard her say what he thought she did- by all accounts, he was a monster, the face of one, the past of one. Surely she must not see him as he was. 

Genji moved next to Angela, his hand resting on her back as he looked to Gabriel with a serious expression. 

"Reyes, I know it is difficult considering the circumstances with Jesse, but please take it from me: forgive yourself. You can not allow his actions to cloud the worth you see in yourself. I know you are a good man. The people who were trapped here for years, they know you are at the core someone who deserves a second chance. King Morrison himself has said so, that's why people are here helping us. You are not alone. The world has changed and is going to repay the atrocities that were set unto you, just as you have. Give yourself time to process." Genji had grown to be twice the man Gabriel had ever hoped to be. In many ways he proud, but it did sting his heart to know Genji suffered silently similarly to Jesse and had to leave to find peace. 

"Thank you, all of you." Gabriel's hand was shaking as he pressed it to his chest. "This is- I don't know what to say-" 

"I think before you say anything," Amélie turned Gabriel by the shoulders, facing her. "There is someone who would very much like to know that you are awake." 

“Where is she?” He asked, too afraid to even speak your name with the fear that letting it slip from his lips would act as a curse itself. 

“In the back, somewhere in the gardens.” Amélie smiled, no question who he was asking for. "I can walk with you, if you like." 

"No, thank you Amélie. I can already feel my strength coming back to me." He was already turning, ready to force himself to run if he had to. 

Curling dead vines that once crawled up the castle walls had been replaced with massive green walls of leaves and small flowers. With each pass by a new face, they would bow to the former king and something strange mixed around in him. It felt wrong, he didn't want to be seen as a king, he certainly didn't feel like a king anymore, and yet they were treating him as if their fellow soldiers had never stormed his castle or burned down his villages. The conflict within his chest left him feeling dizzy. If that wasn't enough, as soon as he rounded the corner of the castle, out of the shadow of the walls and into the bright sunlight of the massive gardens in the back he almost felt like he may have needed to sit.

The pond out behind the castle had been cleared of years worth of gunk and grit, it shined in a lovely cyan tint next to the freshly painted gazebo which sat on the edge. The edges of the garden had been trimmed down to perfection and he couldn't help but let his fingers trail over the soft petals as he wandered further and further in the mess of greens and throws of color.

Your voice drifted into the sky long before he could see you. It made his heart skip a beat when he heard you laugh, you were with someone and they made you laugh loud- the sound of it was so pure and so deeply nostalgic for him that it shook him to the soul. He strained to listen, the eyes across his body darted all around searching for the source of your voice. Bushes and flowers grew higher and higher the further he got, it seemed the garden was still in the process of being trimmed and replanted to make it just as beautiful as it was in the heyday. 

"Do you think he'd prefer the reds or the blues more?" Your voice drifted his way as he parted thick stalks of flowers that reached over his head.

"The reds, Gabriel has always been partial to reds." Siebren's voice was with you, there was a sort of happy sigh to it. 

With a careful peek between stems he finally set his eyes on you. There you were, standing among tall stalks of pastel pink foxglove blooms with a smile on your face as if you’d never been dragged away from him at all. You hadn’t caught sight of him staring through the obscuring petals, instead you were too focused on the armful of stunning red dehlias weighing heavily as you moved them. He was breathless and afraid, an irrational fear of thinking you'd turn him away that gnawed at him despite the love he knew you shared. You'd proved yourself time and time again, not that you ever needed to in the first place, and he let that inspire his confidence to emerge into an open patch across from you. 

The sounds of movement caught your attention and you turned to glance at who was disturbing your gardening in the middle of the day only to freeze in a moment of recognition. 

“Oh-!” You gasped out as soon as your eyes snapped to him.

"You're up!" Siebren slapped a hand to his head and pushed his fingers over the curve of the starry dome in the back. 

You were smiling so big, but he could read the worry that crossed your expression as you started toward him with open hands as if you were going to catch him from falling to his knees. Within seconds you were pressed against him, your body thrown to his before arms circled tightly around him. 

“I thought I lost you.” He whispered as you pressed your face to his chest. He spoke against your hair and placed light kisses over and over again. His touch buzzed with a happy numb, he was sure in mere moments he would open his eyes and somehow be met with the reality of biting snowfall and blood spreading across his abdomen. "They told me what you went through to lift the curse. You're so strong. I'm never letting you go again, I love you. My god, I love you so much-" 

Nervous rambling was cut off within moments as your lips met his. It made him smile, you ran your hands through the thick of his new beard and cupped his face as you kept kissing him until he was sure you were going to be gasping for air. A moment of parting, just before he could get a word in, Siebren's massive arms circled around both you and him and with a hearty laugh Siebren lifted you each in the air in a squeeze that kicked the last gasp out of Gabriel. 

"What a sight for sore eyes!" He cried as he swung you and Gabriel in his arms before realizing he was crushing you and lowered his arms so you and Gabriel were once again standing on your own two feet.

"Siebren, it's good to see you so jovial." Gabriel laughed as he clutched at the wound beneath the gauze pulsing with pain. "I do hope she hasn't caused you too much trouble while I was out." 

"Not trouble at all." Siebren responded in all seriousness as you tried to hide a smile. "I'm surprised to see you up so soon, you really should not be putting any strain on yourself right now. In my professional opinion, you should still be resting even though you're awake. We should get you back to bed right away-"

"Alright, alright." Gabriel waved his hand away as you curled at his side and acted as a crutch to help him back to the castle. He kissed your forehead before studying your loving smile. "Although, I refuse to stay in that infirmary anymore, would you be so kind as so escort me to my room?" 

* * *

It took far too long to make it to the top of the west wing tower. Every step up the stairs was a moment of agony for Gabriel, but you kept at his side and let him lean when he needed to. Much to his surprise, he found his room in a far different state than one he'd left it in. 

The closet doors were left open, his own clothes pushed to the side and some of yours stacked within. A small collection of books and your journals were spread across a writing desk that had been moved in and placed in the corner. His massive bed once left in disarray with a single pillow and blanket sparring across had been made for two, one side clearly stayed in and made comfortable. You led him to the edge of the bed, helped his tired body down until he was able to lay in a way that his injury agreed with him. 

"I understand you met an old friend of mine." He said as his fingers rested over the massive scar on his chest where metal once protruded from the end of a sword. "I'm surprised Jack was willing to help and protect us." 

"He carries a lot of guilt and remorse for the things he did, much like you." You kicked off your shoes and brushed off some of the dirt on your knees before climbing over the sheets and settling at his side. "If I'm being honest, I think there's still some distrust, but at the very least I know he's not working with the witch and that means we will be protected if she chooses to show herself again." 

"Did she try to attack while I was recovering?" His fingers trailed thoughtlessly over your shoulder, trailing up and down as he furrowed his brows at the thought of being unable to protect his people. 

"No. In fact, no one has heard from her. We think she's in the mountains hiding out, but it has been a battle in itself to rebuild trust among a kingdom that assumed you were dead. We're rebuilding, not just the castle but the entire country, one day at a time." You nuzzled to his chest and kissed at skin that longed for your lips. The eyes that blemished him were watching you with desire, having woken after so long their gaze could not be ripped from them. "Akande, Olivia and Maximilien are all out working with different troops in collaboration with Morrison's knights. I was hoping to have the castle in pristine shape by the time you woke, but- I'd much rather have you here now. I've missed you so much, Gabriel." 

"It feels so strange to me." He chuckled and felt you shiver beneath his fingers moving to your spine. "Almost as if I fell asleep yesterday and woke up in a different world today. There were knights and workers who saw me and didn't even flinch, I believed everyone would fear me, that I would be outcast for being the undead product of hatred. I never thought... looking like this, I would be accepted." 

"I told you that you were deserving of love, the only person holding onto those fears is you." You pressed your body against his, as close as you could get to leave lazy kisses along his neck and jaw. "I love you, as my strength in life, as my king, no matter what form you may take." 

"This form definitely needs a hair cut." He laughed even though his heart was beating into his throat as you kissed closer and closer to the scar over his cheek. From the corner of his eye, he could see his long hair spilling over the pillow and off the edge of the edge. 

"I kind of like it." You spoke with a whisper and smothered him with slow deep kisses. 

Even if it didn't feel like he'd been out as long as he had, his body was certainly telling him it had been _far_ too long without your touch. He wasn't sure if you caught sight of the growing bulge in his pants or if it was the groan that gave it away, but as you were kissing from lips to his collarbone, your hand slid over the waist of his pants. By the way you were breathing against his skin, and the pink rouging your cheeks, he felt it was safe to assume you had also gone far too long spending night after night alone in his big empty bed. 

His core jumped the moment your head began to move down to leave a trail of kisses over his chest then gently above his gauze. He dug his hips into the mattress, pushed the back of his head hard against the pillow and ground his teeth together at the thought of flipping you around and pinning you to his bed. If he had the strength you would have already been in his arms, he would have tossed you over his shoulder the moment he set his eyes on you and taken him back to his room to examine every inch of skin he loved so dearly. He would have pressed your back against the shocking cold of the glass on the window and rode into you until you were dizzy. He needed to hear his name slipping fro your lips, needed to hear you begging for him, needed to hear more than anything that you were his and his alone. 

"I don't think I'm in any state to do anything-" He blurted out, afraid if he started doing what he wanted to he would rip apart his still healing muscle.

"You don't need to do anything." You whispered against his scars, your eyes opened just enough to meet one of his intently staring back where it curved over his arm. "If it feels bad, stop me." 

The bliss he felt as your hand slid beneath his clothing was blinding, your fingers wrapped around him as he grew hard far too quickly but you were happy to shift between his legs and drag your other hand over his stomach still teasing him before he finally felt the warmth of your tongue. At the very minimum, he was able to push his fingers through your hair, he gripped and combed as your head began to bob and pleasure overtook him. He wished more than anything that he could return the favor, because although you were certainly happily working away at him he was unsure how exactly you felt, he still felt a sense of awkwardness with a learning curve in terms of what you liked or didn't like. 

Stretching your throat with small moans escaping made him buck his hips and lose himself to fantasies of learning every small detail he could to make you feel just as good as you were making him feel. 

"Ah- I love you." He sighed as his core jumped on the verge of release.

What finally threw him over was feeling you smile. 

He needed you. No matter what you were willing to give him, be it at the sensations that shot through his nerves as your throat tightened around him, or the quiet steady sound of your slumber long after.

He needed you. No matter the circumstances, or the uncertainties of the future. 

He needed you. You were his calm, his sanity, you were his lone candle lit in the depths of a castle that had been forever darkened. 

After you'd slipped away from bed to clean off, his body shook with exhaustion. Every nerve beneath his skin begged him to rest his eyes, he wanted nothing more than to slip into unconsciousness but he was forcing himself to watch the door until you came back. He felt so goofy, there was a smile that wouldn't leave his face as he looked into the hall waiting for you. Even though it was the middle of the day and the room was bright with the glow of afternoon sunlight, you didn't hesitate to crawl into bed with him to hold him as he rested. 

"You just focus on getting better." You spoke against his chest. "You've done your share of protecting, let us take care of you for a while. Then, when you're able to, we're going to throw you a ball open to the entire kingdom. This castle will see an adoring public again and it will be the symbol of hope for a new lifetime." 

"You think so?" Gabriel asked, his voice mumbling as his body gave way to sleep. 

"I know so. My journals, your stories have been shared with hundreds of people across the land, you've become something of a folk tale." You laughed and played with the ends of his hair. 

From a monster to a man, king to villain to a broken hero pulled out the darkness by love- he would be nothing but a shadow in the halls if you hadn't stumbled through the doors that rainy night. He had regrets, but as he closed his eyes he found a resilient peace washing over him.

* * *

Time was a fuzzy thing for Gabriel as he began to return to an active role within the castle. Hours to days, days to weeks blurred as his body slowly built back to its usual half-dead state. Moments between sheets with you shifted to being dressed in royal robes and sitting at the head of tables. Dreamy memories of holding your hand beneath the table during meals, hazy recollections of nobles moving through the castle visiting to see the living king with their own eyes. All the blood, the death, the agony, it finally felt worth it. 

Between meetings and fittings, Gabriel would spend his time working on repairing the west wing with knights and villagers alike who joined to help. 

At the end of summer, the castle was ready for a ball of the century. The throne room, the grand dining hall, the ballroom, the entirety of the west wing and the massive gardens in the back were prepped for a country to meet their king once more. At Amélie’s insistence, Gabriel readied himself for the day alone as you bathed and prepped in the guest wing just as you had during winter the first time. Facial hair trimmed down, his hair tied back, he examined himself over and over again in a floor length mirror before placing his onyx crown to his head with steady hands. The black and gold lining of his coat flowed down to a cape that pooled behind his heels, he was nervously adjusting the waist of his pants before he finally buckled his belt and began buttoning up the front of an intricate coat. 

"The party has already begun, carriages are lining the entrance and road out from all over, sir." Siebren stood at Gabriel's door, adjusting the cuffs of his own jacket as he waited on the king. "Those who knew you before will be quite surprised to see you in white." 

"I don't think my clothing is what they'll be staring at." He laughed as he touched the hole on his cheek. There was no shame stirring in him, he looked upon it more as a badge of honor. 

"We should head down soon." 

"I know, I know, I'm just stalling." Gabriel finally breathed out a long sigh. "Alright. I'm ready."

"Right this way, King Reyes." Siebren offered a small bow and motioned his hand down the stairs. 

What a strange feeling it was, to not feel the immediate kick in his gut that wanted to deny his title. He walked side by side with Siebren, carefully making his way down until he appeared at the bottom the stairs and before him was already a crowd of people laughing and conversing just as they would have many moons before. Magic brought in the gardens from the outside, decorations of massive peonies with petals that fluttered like paper as patrons danced by, walls of vines and ivy climbing high to gold shining ceilings. 

Upon his announced entrance to the ballroom there was cheering, there was clapping and smiling and it was _for him_. Gratitude weighed at his heart, there was a time he would only imagine people running and screaming or chasing him with torches. 

Although he was thankful for it, he could feel a piece of him missing. Trying to busy himself with desserts and drinks, he floated throughout the room reintroducing himself to knights and offering his support to a new group of villagers moving in around the castle grounds, but his eyes drifted from face to face wondering when you would arrive. 

Every announcement of another member joining the party had him holding his breath. 

He was waiting ready to spring from his feet. Waiting and tapping his fingers against a cup left filled in his hands. Waiting and waiting and waiting, dying in anticipation to see what kind of beautiful dress Amélie and a team of seamstresses had come up with after keeping it secret from him for months. 

With eyes always on the door, he was ready to fall to his knees the moment you first stepped in behind Amélie. Your eyes were searching too, looking for him and your face lifted to a brilliant glowing smile the moment you locked gazes with him. 

They'd put you in white to match him, your dress full with a sheer fabric overlaying the top and bundled to the neck with billowing sleeves tied at the wrists. All across the edges were shimmering florals, flowers and leaves in reds and black with hints of gold curling across the skirt with gorgeous magic. He wasn't sure if it was love leaving a halo around you, or if there was something legitimately magical about the dress, but the royal announcer barely made it through your name before he was sprinting up the steps to meet you at the top and bring you into a spin as he kissed you without shame. 

"Would you like to dance?" He asked when he finally lowered you to your feet and realized your cheeks were flushed as you stared around at the room of eyes watching. Even the music, an orchestra of players paused as they watched unsure what was to be expected. 

"Everyone is staring." You tried to hide behind your hand.

"Let them." He spoke softly and led you to the center of a cleared ballroom floor. 

Plucking of a violin began as he took one step, the chords of a harp on another, slowly as you began to move with him music swelled and you danced as one with him. The crowd was silent as the dance began, only to be encouraged to join as others took to dancing with each of you. Siebren and Amélie swept in first, then to Gabriel's surprise Olivia and Maximilien. More and more people appeared twirling around with every passing note. 

Gabriel smiled as his hand squeezed yours and fabric glittered around him during a turn. The kingdom was entering a new era, one of forgiveness, of remorse and transparency. Overland was at one time cursed, plagued by a witch and a misguided knight who saw themselves as all powerful. Even with all the power in the world, love was an unexpected unstoppable force that changed the course of many lives. For that moment he allowed himself to breathe uninhibited, he sought out the happiness in his chest and pushed away the pain. King Gabriel Reyes could see a bright and caring future ahead. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much to everyone who's read this far, to all the people who comment, send asks, leave kudos, to those who lurk! I sincerely appreciate anyone who sticks with these longer fics, you've all been awesome! <3333

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on Tumblr at [hostilewitness-ao3](https://hostilewitness-ao3.tumblr.com/) and Twitter [hostilewitness_](https://twitter.com/hostilewitness_)! :)


End file.
